# recuse

> English word · Verb · IPA /ɹɪˈkjuːz/ · frequency rank #50,765

## Definitions
1. To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).
2. To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).
3. To reject or repudiate (an authority, a person, a court judgment, etc.).
4. To refuse (to do something).
5. To dismiss (an appeal).
6. Of a judge, juror, or prosecutor: to declare oneself disqualified from trying a court case due to an actual or potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality.

## Etymology
From Late Middle English recusen, from Old French recuser (modern French récuser (“to challenge; to impugn; (formal) to make an objection; (law) to recuse”), and from its etymon Latin recūsāre, the present active infinitive of recūsō (“to decline, refuse, reject; (law) to object to, protest”), from re- (prefix meaning ‘again’, denoting opposition or reversal) + causa (“cause, reason; (law) case, claim; etc.”) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). Doublet of rouse and possibly ruse.
Cognates
* Catalan recusar
* French récuser
* Italian ricusare
* Old Occitan recuzar
* Portuguese recusar
* Spanish recusar

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/recuse