de·ni·al /di-'nī-əl/ n
1: refusal to grant or allow something
denial of due process
denial of a motion
2 a: an assertion that an allegation is false
b: a defense asserting that an opposing party's allegations are false compare affirmative defense at defense 2a, traverse
◇ Under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, allegations that are not denied are taken as admitted, and a statement that a party has insufficient knowledge or information to form a belief as to the truth of an allegation is taken as a denial. A denial must sufficiently state which allegations or parts of allegations are being denied.
ar·gu·men·ta·tive denial /ˌär-gyə-'men-tə-tiv-/: a denial that asserts facts inconsistent with an allegation made by an adverse party
general denial
1: a denial of all the allegations in a complaint
2: a denial of all the allegations of a particular paragraph or group of paragraphs in a complaint
specific denial
1: general denial (2) in this entry
2: a denial of parts of an allegation in a complaint
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.