food that is discarded (as from a kitchen)
"The city workers collected the old vegetables and rotten fruit from the backyard as refuse."
Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.
"The committee issued a formal refusal to grant his application."
refusal
In plain English: Refuse is trash that you throw away because it cannot be reused.
"The city has implemented new bins to separate recyclables from general refuse."
Usage: As a noun meaning trash or waste materials, refuse is often confused with the verb form which means to reject something. Use this word when referring specifically to collected garbage rather than general debris like leaves or snow.
To decline (a request or demand).
"The candle refused to melt again despite being placed back on the hot stove."
To melt again.
In plain English: To refuse means to say no to something someone is asking you to do.
"He refused to share his dessert with anyone else at the party."
Discarded, rejected.
"The old newspapers were thrown into the bin as refuse."
The word refuse entered Late Middle English as a borrowing from the Middle French phrase meaning "having been refused." It eventually replaced an older native English verb that shared the same definition.