rebut
French, noun
rebut is a French masculine noun meaning “cast-off; scrap, rubbish” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a third-person singular past historic of reboire. With an accent, rebût is a different word: “third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of reboire”. The French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) defines it as “Action de rebuter (rejeter avec rudesse)”.
What does rebut mean in English?
noun
- 1
archaicmasculinecasting-off, throwing-away
- 2
masculinecast-off; scrap, rubbish
- 3
masculinescum, dreg
- 4
masculinedead letter
verb
- 1
third-person singular past historic of reboire
verb
- 1
third-person singular imperfect subjunctive of reboire
Source: English Wiktionary, French section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How French dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Action de rebuter (rejeter avec rudesse). 2. Ce qu’on a rebuté, ce dont on n’a pas voulu, ce qu’il y a de plus mauvais en chaque espèce. 3. Les pièces rebutées, à éliminer car non conformes et pour lesquelles une mise en conformité par reprise / retouche ou réparation n’est pas jugée économiquement raisonnable.
verb: 1. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait du subjonctif du verbe reboire.
The definition in the French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), in French.
Source: French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of rebut
- rebuts plural
- qu’il/elle/on rebût subjunctive imperfect
Source: English Wiktionary and French Wiktionary (Wiktionnaire) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is rebut in French?
rebut appears about once in every 1 million words in written French.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).