How to Use refusal in a Sentence

refusal

noun

• My request for more money was met with a flat refusal.
• Call it the beauty of the refusal, the beauty of saying no more.
  — Laura Tanenbaum, The New Republic, 17 May 2023
• China blamed the refusal on U.S. sanctions against Mr. Li.
  — Vivian Wang, New York Times, 19 July 2023
• The very idea might prompt feelings of denial, refusal, a type of disbelief.
  — Hanif Abdurraqib, The New Yorker, 29 June 2023
• Lujan Grisham pushed back on the refusal to enforce the order.
  — Lauren Mascarenhas, CNN, 12 Sep. 2023
• Mayorkas, 64, now faces two charges from the House: willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law and breach of public trust.
  — Kyler Alvord, Peoplemag, 14 Feb. 2024
• The global icon attributes her post-prison success to her refusal to let her time in jail define her.
  — Lynsey Eidell, Peoplemag, 28 Jan. 2024
• The atomic bomb is the answer, said Truman, to Japan’s refusal to surrender.
  — Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Aug. 2023
• Among the sticking points is GM’s refusal to let workers go on strike over plans to close factories, Pierce said.
  — Tom Krisher, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2023
• After several spats with their fellow campmates and refusal to do a challenge, the pair tried to quit the game three times.
  — Emma Kershaw, Peoplemag, 26 Apr. 2023
• Republicans’ refusal to see the facts right in front of them is a clear sign of how much influence Trump still has over the party.
  — Tori Otten, The New Republic, 27 July 2023
• The same goes for David’s trend-averse personal style, which reads as an almost punkish gesture of refusal.
  — TIME, 2 Feb. 2024
• One of the biggest moments was the FDA’s refusal to approve thalidomide as a treatment for morning sickness.
  — Adam Feuerstein and Matthew Herper, STAT, 31 July 2023
• In the video, the host claims Trump's 2016 refusal to pursue charges against Clinton for her use of a private email server is disingenuous.
  — Nate Trela, USA TODAY, 26 May 2023
• That was an indictment on Budenholzer, and so was the Bucks’ refusal to call a timeout in the closing seconds of the fourth quarter of Game 5, and at the end of overtime.
  — Gary Washburn, BostonGlobe.com, 6 May 2023
• Many Israelis saw that refusal as the unforgivable crossing of a red line that made Israel look weak in the eyes of its enemies.
  — Isabel Kershner, New York Times, 28 Feb. 2024
• But Garner told me that the young women’s refusal hardened her determination to write the book.
  — Helen Sullivan, The New Yorker, 26 Oct. 2023
• Trump is once again planning to skip the debates, content in the knowledge that his refusal to debate even once this cycle has not dinged his polling numbers.
  — Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 9 Jan. 2024
• Manet’s refusal to play along with the strictures of academic art matches his refusal to cater to France’s bourgeois fantasies.
  — Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2023
• His refusal led to him being stripped of his heavyweight championships and being largely forced out of boxing for years.
  — Joe Otterson, Variety, 11 Mar. 2024
• And Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election further called into question the integrity of the system.
  — Rachyl Jones, Fortune, 9 Jan. 2024
• What may be more interesting than his refusal to conform is the way society bends around his will.
  — Roxana Popescu, San Diego Union-Tribune, 19 Nov. 2023
• The stakes are high: A refusal to pay for treatment can drive families into bankruptcy.
  — Patrick Rucker, ProPublica, 15 Dec. 2023
• When an offer is submitted for a restricted free agent, the player’s current team can match the offer with right of first refusal.
  — Thomas Schlachter, CNN, 12 Mar. 2024
• Your book is dealing with that too, this mortification of the flesh and Matrix-y refusal to engage with the body, denying the kids are going to find ways to make out in the bushes.
  — Hazlitt, 3 Apr. 2024
• Detroit had tendered Wright, 25, a one-year offer of just below $3 million to maintain the right of refusal if Wright signed an offer sheet elsewhere.
  — Michael Nowels, The Mercury News, 3 Apr. 2024
• He also was enraged by Pence’s refusal to attempt to assist him in overturning the results.
  — Josh Dawsey, Washington Post, 15 Apr. 2023
• Not for the first time in his career, Musk had made things worse for himself by his refusal to acknowledge obligations laid down, one way or another, by the law.
  — Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 5 Feb. 2024
• President Joe Biden, backed up by Senate Democrats, stood firm in his refusal to negotiate over the debt limit for months.
  — Emily Jacobs, Washington Examiner, 17 May 2023
• The hard pass is especially effective when paired with a refusal to look up from your phone or a disdainful loogie hock.
  — Evan Waite, The New Yorker, 10 Apr. 2024

Last Updated: 3 May 2024