Delay holding allied workers up denied (7)
I believe the answer is:
refuted
'denied' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for refuted that I've seen before include "Negated" , "Proved (a statement) to be wrong" , "Denied" , "Prove to be false or incorrect" , "Proved false" .)