trash(THINGS)US

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Rubbish and waste
activated sludge
anti-litter
anti-littering
debris
dejunk
fumes
garbage
garbage disposal
gubbins
high-level waste
influent
litter
muck
sewage
sewerage
shavings
skip diving
slag
spoil
white elephant

refuse | American Dictionary

refuse
verb[ I/T ]
us/rɪˈfjuz/

refuseverb[I/T] (SAY NO)

to say or show that you are not willing to do, accept, or allow something:
[ I ]She asked him for a loan, but he refused.
[ T ]We were refused admission to the building.
[ + to infinitive ]On cold mornings, the car may refuse to start.

refusal

noun[ C/U ]us/rɪˈfju·zəl/
[ C ]His refusal to contribute money angered the organizers.
refuse
noun[ U ]
us/ˈref·jus/

refusenoun[U] (GARBAGE)

worthless or unwanted objects or materials; garbage:
We separate refuse from recyclables.

refuse | Business English

refuse
verb[ I or T ]
uk /rɪˈfjuːz/us
to say that you will not do or accept something:
refuse an offer/request/invitationThe government proposes to cut unemployment benefits to those who refuse job offers.
refuse sb sthThe company was forced to close when it was refused a new bank loan.
refuse to do sthSome big brand wines are refusing to accept supermarket price reductions.

Examples of refuse

refuse
Seventy-two controls were enrolled in the study, only one patient refused to answer the questionnaire.
One patient was refused because the fact that she already had a 4-month baby did not by itself seem a sufficiently strong indication.
To be more precise, he runs away from the law by defiantly refusing to win the race as the favourite competitor.
If the child refused, the first author tried again up to two more times.
Of the remaining sample (4449) 87% were interviewed, 7% refused to co-operate and 6% were untraced.
On the railroad's motion for a new trial, the trial court reduced the amount of the judgment by $3,000 but refused to set aside the verdict.
The city then refused to grant him a permit on the grounds that the property was in a residential area.
While refusing the role of narrator, he does not accept that of cultural critic either.
He refuses to give his experiences over to the historian and let him examine them according to the rules of scientific discourse.
She has refused to be associated with it.
However, no punitive measures can be taken against a laboratory that refuses to participate.
Written notes were made from those respondents who refused to have the interview tape-recorded.
I refused, although there was enough of the medicament for her and for myself.
In other words, in refusing to attribute any role to crime, these studies are forced into the same zero-sum framework they attempt to challenge.
On the other hand, she refuses to stylize him in an idealizing fashion.
See all examples of refuse
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.