Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Refutation

Refutation (r?f`?*t?"sh?n) , noun

[Latin refutatio: compare French réfutation.]

The act or process of refuting or disproving, or the state of being refuted; proof of falsehood or error; the overthrowing of an argument, opinion, testimony, doctrine, or theory, by argument or countervailing proof.
Same of his blunders seem rather to deserve a flogging than a refutation. — Macaulay