Spiritually speaking, if you REFUTE someone's argument, what does "refute" mean?

refute

Main Entry: re·fute

Pronunciation: \ri-ˈfyüt\

Function: transitive verb

Inflected Form(s): re·fut·ed; re·fut·ing

Etymology: Latin refutare to check, suppress, refute

Date: 1545

1 : to prove wrong by argument or evidence : show to be false or erroneous

2 : to deny the truth or accuracy of <refuted the allegations>

— re·fut·able \-ˈfyü-tə-bəl\ adjective

— re·fut·ably \-blē\ adverb

— re·fut·er noun

Refute simply means to "prove" something to be false or untrue.

I think after reading the various contexts that this word has been used, I understand how this word could easily be twisted to "certify" a POV without actually providing proof or evidence that something is false.

I think in the future, any evidence I usually give isn't necessarily proof, but merely juxtaposition, (which I prefer to use as my source because I arrive at my conclusion after weighing available evidence provided to us by human nature & typical human behavior associated with any attempt to validate a contradiction prone ideology, dogma or agenda driven mantra) it makes more sense to provide a basis for arriving at a conclusion rather than merely stating that because one person or a group of people agree to a flawed idea, then somehow, that's all the "proof" required to use the word refute?

i agree with the asker to the extent that i am old (and educated) enough to use it to mean c, but obviously many people use it to mean a, and attacking either dictionaries or americans won't change facts. we just recently had another question about differences between american and british english, where it turned out, predictably, that the alleged british forms were simply the OLDER forms. languages change. i don't personally like many of the changes, but that's the way it works. oh, and the endless attacks on american english are oh-so-funny. please, sir, can we have some more?

Overthrow by argument,evidence,or proof.

Dictionary definitions are not up for debate or voting. They mean what they mean.

Webster's dictionary is an inferior bastardisation of the English language.

c, effectively, or make meaningless.

It does not necessarily disprove it; nullification is sufficient.

Edit:

I also agree that 'deny' is not an acceptable use, as that results in a subjective opinion of negation, while refutation must result in an objective invalidation.

Words like 'gotten' are folksy and quaint, but are still unambiguous and commonly understood internationally.

Spiritually speaking, it means to speak spiritually without actually speaking spiritually at all so the R&S police will be fooled into thinking that a non-spiritual question is actually spiritual. Something like that.

Are you sure Y! Answers is really the best place to come to ask this?

I would have thought, oh, a dictionary, or something would have been a good first stop.

c because you need evidence in order to be able to refute someone else's claim or theory

It means "to prove wrong by argument or evidence".

If you refute someone's argument, you are doing (c). i.e., overthrow by argument, evidence, or proof