Dictionary

refudiate en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ɹɪˈfjuː.di.eɪt/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɹəˈ-/ (General-American, Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Blend of refute + repudiate. Often associated with Sarah Palin's infamous 2010 lapsus linguae. A few rare attestations predate the 1970s. Since then the word has been uncommon although not rare, but many written occurrences of the word focus on prescriptively repudiating its use; it remains nonstandard.

Meanings

1. (nonstandard) To repudiate, to oppose.
   • In a move that will no doubt confirm some people’s suspicions about US English, the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2010 isn’t even a word. Refudiate – renowned intellect Sarah Palin’s mangling of ‘refute’ and ‘repudiate’ into one Frankenstein of a malamanteau – beat gleek (a fan of the TV show Glee), nom nom (an expression of the deliciousness of food) and vuvuzela (a deafening torture device that resembles a trumpet) for the honours. 2010 December 6, Melanie Sheridan, “Oxford Add Words”, in The Enthusiast, archived from the original on 15 Dec 2010:
   • Words are coined on the spot, like “refudiate,” and regular words are used in ways that make sense only in context. a. 2010, David Segal quoting a marijuana seller, “When Capitalism Meets Cannabis”, in The New York Times, 2010 June 27, page BU1
   • The value of given data can and must be judged regardless of the hypothesis they are supposed to support or refudiate. 1987, Mahabalagiri N. Hegde, Clinical Research in Communicative Disorders: Principles and Strategies, Little, Brown, →ISBN, page 317:
   • G.L.'s post reminded me that "malamanteau" could in fact be quite useful, if we reduced its meaning to simply "an erroneous and unintentional portmanteau". This would cover "refudiate" and others like it. 2010 November 4, Robert Lane Greene, “Eggcorn, mashup, malamanteau or other?”, Johnson, in The Economist, archived from the original on 03 Jun 2026:
   • I am going to do everything I can along with the Chairman to see this Congress refudiate the certification of certain countries that are not complying. 1988 March 3, James Bilbray, quoted in Worldwide Narcotics Review of the 1988 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, U.S. Government Printing Office, page 9
   • a. 2008, Alan Moore writes in the subsection, Dr. Manhattan: Super-powers and the Superpowers, pg. iii, of Chapter IV, in Watchmen The suggestion that the presence of a superhuman has inclined the world more towards peace is refudiated by the sharp increase in both Russian and American nuclear stockpiles since the advent of Dr. Manhattan.
   • ‘Captain Blip? Never,’ he said, without ceasing to calculate. ‘I refudiate that.’ ‘You what?’ Jane felt suddenly cold all over. ‘There’s no such word, Denny.’ 1984, John Sladek, The Lunatics of Terra, Wildside Press LLC, published 2005, →ISBN, page 77:
   • Blends are the simplest kind of slip of the tongue […] some examples […] "refudiating" (refuting + repudiating). 1951, Rulon Wells, "Predicting Slips of the Tongue"; reprinted in Victoria Fromkin (editor), Speech Errors as Linguistic Evidence, 1973, Walter de Gruyter, page 85
   • […] their articles were read to determine whether the citation was to substantiate or refudiate the initial claim or was it a "quote of acceptance". 1980 January 23, Report of Joint Commission on Prescription Drug Use, page 1:
   • Palin tweeted that "peaceful Muslims" should "refudiate" the New York mosque being built near Ground Zero. This prompted plenty of retweets at her expense -- "refudiate," of course, is not a word. 2010, Matt DeLong quoting Sarah Palin, “'Refudiating' Palin brings Shakespeare into Twitter exchange”, in the Washington Post, 2010 July 20

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