demur
Other forms: demurred; demurs; demurring
If your mother asks you to clean your room and you refuse, you demur. And if your friend invites you to the Death Metal Forever concert but you hesitate, you demur. Whether you object, politely disagree, or hesitate, you demur.
If Aunt Tilly offers to knit you a sweater, you might politely demur, being reluctant to accept. When she describes the bunnies she plans for the sweater, you would want to strongly demur, explaining that you are moving to Texas next week and will no longer need sweaters. And if you find yourself the defendant in a civil suit, you might file a demurrer, objecting to the plaintiff’s complaint. When you file that demurrer, you also demur.
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take exception to
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(law) a formal objection to an opponent's pleadings
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enter a demurrertype of:pleadmake an allegation in an action or other legal proceeding, especially answer the previous pleading of the other party by denying facts therein stated or by alleging new facts
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demur / demure
Vocabulary lists containing demur
In this classic coming-of-age story, Scout Finch recounts her childhood in Maycomb, Alabama. When Scout's father is appointed to defend a black man in a high-profile trial, racial tensions in the small town come to a head.
On March 6, 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney delivered the majority opinion in the Dred Scott Case. Scott, a slave, had been brought from a slave territory to a free territory and demanded his freedom. The Court ruled that as an enslaved person, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in the courts. The decision further polarized the North and the South and ended any chance of compromise. This pro-slavery Supreme Court decision illuminates how the issue of slavery brought the nation to the brink of the Civil War. Read the full text here.