Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell refusal

Refusal is spelled R-E-F-U-S-A-L.

What it means: The act of saying no to something offered.

In a sentence: The dog showed his refusal to go outside by sitting down and not moving. ▶

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: refuse (verb), refusing, refused, reject. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Refusal” comes from the Old French word “refuser,” meaning to reject or deny. It shares a root with the English verb “refuse,” and the suffix “-al” turns the action of refusing into a noun that names the act itself.

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