Synonym Study

• To spurn is to refuse or reject with contempt or disdain she spurned his attentions
• Repudiate implies the disowning, disavowal, or casting off with condemnation of a person or thing as having no authority, worth, validity, truth, etc. to repudiate the claims of faith healers
• Reject stresses a negative or antagonistic attitude and implies positive refusal to accept, use, believe, etc. they rejected the damaged goods
• Decline implies courtesy in expressing one's nonacceptance of an invitation, proposal, etc. he declined the nomination
• Refuse is a direct, sometimes even blunt term, implying an emphatic denial of a request, demand, etc. to refuse a person money, to refuse permission