confute
/kənˈfjuːt
/verb [with object] formal
Prove (a person or an assertion or accusation) to be wrong: restorers who sought to confute this view were accused of ignorance...
- He has argued to the contrary, but the evidence confutes him.
- He confutes this argument saying ‘You find valuable things in places were no one else has searched.’
- Our exclusive exit poll of the Democratic primary confutes the conventional wisdom about why Gotham's voters vote as they do.
Derivatives
confutation
/ noun ...- He quotes without confutation the assertion that ‘the globe may be surveyed and history may be reviewed in vain for any evidence of a considerable country in which want can be fairly attributed to an increasing population.’
- Thus he deploys a vivid confutation of justification by works, even by the fervent ‘Sacrifice’ he has described in line 5.
- When the child died a few days after, the prophet was abashed, and quite unable to account for this summary confutation.
Origin
Early 16th century: from Latin confutare 'restrain, answer conclusively', from con- 'altogether' + the base of refutare 'refute'.