3 definitions found

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

denial

noun

1: the act of refusing to comply (as with a request); "it resulted in a complete denial of his privileges"

2: the act of asserting that something alleged is not true

3: (psychiatry) a defense mechanism that denies painful thoughts

4: renunciation of your own interests in favor of the interests of others [syn: {abnegation}, {self-abnegation}, {self-denial}, {self-renunciation}]

5: a defendant's answer or plea denying the truth of the charges against him; "he gave evidence for the defense" [syn: {defense}, {defence}, {demurrer}] [ant: {prosecution}]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:

Denial \De*ni"al\, noun [See {Deny}.]

1. The act of gainsaying, refusing, or disowning; negation; -- the contrary of {affirmation}.

You ought to converse with so much sincerity that your bare affirmation or denial may be sufficient. --Bp. Stillingfleet.

2. A refusal to admit the truth of a statement, charge, imputation, etc.; assertion of the untruth of a thing stated or maintained; a contradiction.

3. A refusal to grant; rejection of a request.

The commissioners, . . . to obtain from the king's subjects as much as they would willingly give, . . . had not to complain of many peremptory denials. --Hallam.

4. A refusal to acknowledge; disclaimer of connection with; disavowal; -- the contrary of confession; as, the denial of a fault charged on one; a denial of God.

{Denial of one's self}, a declining of some gratification; restraint of one's appetites or propensities; self-denial.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

234 Moby Thesaurus words for "denial": Eighteenth Amendment, Prohibition Party, Volstead Act, abjuration, abjurement, abnegation, abrogation, absolute contradiction, abstaining, agnosticism, annulment, answer, argument, atheism, ban, bereavement, bucking, challenge, chucking, chucking out, complete answer, confounding, confutation, constraint, contempt, contention, contraband, contradiction, contraposition, contrary assertion, contravention, contraversion, controversion, cost, counteraction, countering, counterstatement, counterworking, crosscurrent, crossing, damage, dead loss, debit, declension, declination, declinature, declining, defense, demolition, demurrer, denudation, deprivation, despisal, despising, despoilment, destruction, detriment, disaffirmation, disagreement, disallowance, disapproval, disavowal, disbelief, discard, disclaimer, disclamation, discounting, discredit, discrediting, dismissal, disobedience, disowning, disownment, dispossession, disproof, disregard, dissent, divestment, effective rejoinder, embargo, exception, exclusion, expatriation, expense, forbearance, forbiddance, forbidden fruit, forbidding, forfeit, forfeiture, forswearing, frugality, gainsaying, golden mean, head wind, heresy, holding back, ignoring, impugnation, impugnment, inability to believe, incredulity, index, index expurgatorius, index librorum prohibitorum, infidelity, inhibition, injunction, injury, interdict, interdiction, interdictum, law, loser, losing, losing streak, loss, minimifidianism, misbelief, moderateness, moderation, nay, negation, negative, negative answer, nix, no, no-no, nonacceptance, nonapproval, nonbelief, noncompliance, nonconsent, nonconsideration, nonobservance, nothing in excess, nullification, nullifidianism, objection, opposing, opposition, opposure, oppugnation, overthrow, overthrowal, palinode, palinody, passing by, perdition, plea, pleading, preclusion, prevention, privation, prohibition, prohibitory injunction, proscription, putting away, putting out, rebuff, rebutment, rebuttal, recantation, refraining, refusal, refutal, refutation, rejection, reneging, renouncement, renunciation, reply, repression, repudiation, repulse, resistance, response, restraint, restrictive covenants, retention, retractation, retraction, revocation, revokement, riposte, robbery, ruin, ruling out, sacrifice, scouting, self, self-control, self-denial, self-discipline, self-mastery, self-restraint, soberness, sobriety, sophrosyne, special demurrer, special pleading, spoliation, spurning, squelch, standing against, statement of defense, statute, stripping, subversion, sumptuary laws, suppression, taboo, taking away, temperance, temperateness, throwing out, thumbs-down, total loss, traversal, turndown, turning out, unbelief, unbelievingness, undercurrent, undermining, unsaying, unwillingness, upset, upsetting, veto, withdrawal, withholding, zoning, zoning laws

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