redargue

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redargue

/ɹɪˈdɑːɡjuː/ UK
/ɹəˈdɑɹɡju/ US

Where it comes from

From Late Middle English redarguen, redargue (“to defeat (someone) in an argument; to rebuke, reprove”), from Middle French redarguer and Old French redargüer (“to disprove, refute; to accuse, blame; to rebuke, reprove”) (modern French rédarguer), and from their etymon Latin redarguere (“to disprove, refute”) (compare Late Latin redarguere (“to rebuke, reprove”)), the present active infinitive of redarguō (“to disprove, refute; to contradict”), from red- (a variant of re- (prefix meaning ‘again’)) + arguō (“to assert, declare; to clarify, make plain; to prove, show; to accuse, charge with; to censure, rebuke, reprove; to blame; to denounce as false”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂erǵ- (“argent, white; glittering”), in the sense of casting light on something to make it clear). Doublet of argue.

Cognates

* Catalan redargüir

* Italian redarguire

* Old Occitan redarguir

* Portuguese redargüir

* Spanish redargüir

verb redargues · redarguing · redargued

transitive To disprove or refute (someone) in an argument. Dia[ph Silkworm]. Sir, Ile redargue you, / By diſputation. / Com[passe]. O let's heare this! / I long to heare a man diſpute in his ſhirt / Of valour, and his ſvvord dravvne in his hand.
Similar: counterargue
transitive To rebut or refute (an argument, a proposition, etc.). Nathaniel Carpenter [i.e., Nathanael Carpenter] late Fellow of Exceter Colledge in Oxford, in the ſecond booke and ſeventh chapter of his learned Geographicall concluſions, thus fully redargues that forgerie.
obsolete, transitive Often followed by for or of: to censure, to rebuke, to reprove (someone or something). Wherefore, says he, the libel maun be redargued by the pannel proving her defences.
obsolete, rare, transitive To argue (a case, proposition, etc.) against someone.
intransitive, obsolete To present a disproof or refutation of an argument, a person, etc.

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MLA

"redargue." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/redargue. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

redargue. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/redargue

Chicago

"redargue." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/redargue.

BibTeX

@misc{redargue_2026,
  title = {redargue},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/redargue},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}