3  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Refusal  \Re*fus"al\  (-al),  n. 
  1.  The  act  of  refusing;  denial  of  anything  demanded, 
  solicited,  or  offered  for  acceptance. 
 
  Do  they  not  seek  occasion  of  new  quarrels,  On  my 
  refusal,  to  distress  me  more?  --Milton. 
 
  2.  The  right  of  taking  in  preference  to  others  the  choice  of 
  taking  or  refusing;  option;  as  to  give  one  the  refusal  of 
  a  farm;  to  have  the  refusal  of  an  employment. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  refusal 
  n  1:  the  act  of  refusing 
  2:  the  polite  declining  of  an  invitation  [syn:  {regrets},  {declination}] 
 
  From  THE  DEVIL'S  DICTIONARY  ((C)1911  Released  April  15  1993)  [devils]: 
 
  REFUSAL,  n.  Denial  of  something  desired;  as  an  elderly  maiden's  hand 
  in  marriage,  to  a  rich  and  handsome  suitor;  a  valuable  franchise  to  a 
  rich  corporation,  by  an  alderman;  absolution  to  an  impenitent  king,  by 
  a  priest,  and  so  forth.  Refusals  are  graded  in  a  descending  scale  of 
  finality  thus:  the  refusal  absolute,  the  refusal  condition,  the 
  refusal  tentative  and  the  refusal  feminine.  The  last  is  called  by 
  some  casuists  the  refusal  assentive. 
 
 

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