deny

Pronunciation

• IPA: /dɪˈnaɪ/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English denyen, borrowed from Old French denier, earlier deneier, denoier “to deny, repudiate, withhold”,^[2][3][4][5] from Latin dēnegāre (“to deny, reject, refuse”),^[2][3] from dē- “away” or “formally” and negāre (“to refuse, say no”),^[2][6] from Old Latin nec “not”, from the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *ne- (“not”).^[2] Compare negate and negative.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To declare a statement untrue: about 1300 in the OED; before 1325 in Barnhart and the early 14th century in Etymonline.^[8][3][2]

Semantic evolution

From the late 14th century it also meant to refuse to grant or give, and to refuse to acknowledge, disown;^[2] the OED has disowning a person or thing from about 1340.^[8] In logic, to assert the contradictory of a proposition, the opposite of affirm, is from about 1425.^[8] To reject a doctrine as untrue is from 1630 and to refuse to admit the existence of something from 1621.^[8] To refuse access to is from the 1660s.^[2] Denial (1528) replaced the earlier denyance (1468).^[3] In Scots and northern dialect, deny meant also to refuse an offer.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – to declare untrue.^[8]
• c. 1340 – to disown.^[8]
• late 14th century – to refuse to give.^[2]
• c. 1425 – in logic.^[8]
• 1528 – denial.^[3]
• 1660s – to refuse access to.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To declare that something is not true.
2. To refuse to believe or accept; to reject.
3. To refuse to acknowledge someone or something; to disown.
4. To refuse to give or allow something: denied entry.
5. (deny oneself) To do without things one would like.

Word family

• denyingly
• deniable
• redeny
• undeniable
• undenied
• deniability
• denier
• self-denying

Related words

• denial
• negate
• negation
• negative
• renegade
• renege

Usage notes

The AHD groups deny with contradict, contravene, disaffirm, gainsay, negate, negative and traverse, all meaning to refuse to admit that something exists or is true or valuable.^[10]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin