gainsay
Americanverb (used with object)
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gainsays,
present (3rd person singular)
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gainsaid,
past participle, past
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gainsaying
present participle
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to deny, dispute, or contradict.
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to speak or act against; oppose.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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gainsaysimple
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gainsayssimple
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have gainsaidperfect
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has gainsaidperfect
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am gainsayingprogressive
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are gainsayingprogressive
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is gainsayingprogressive
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have been gainsayingperfect progressive
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has been gainsayingperfect progressive
Past
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gainsaidsimple
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had gainsaidperfect
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was gainsayingprogressive
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were gainsayingprogressive
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had been gainsayingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gainsay
First recorded in 1250–1300, gainsay is from the Middle English word gainsaien. See again, say 1
Explanation
Gainsay, a verb, means "contradict" or "speak out against." When you challenge authority, you gainsay, as in teachers don't like it when unruly students gainsay them. Gainsay comes from an Old English word that means "contradict" or "say against," as in, "no one dared gainsay the principal, who is well-known for giving detention to students who so much as frown at him." If you know someone who constantly corrects others, tells them that they're wrong, and says, "That's not true," more than anyone else, you have first-hand experience with the art of the gainsay.
Vocabulary lists containing gainsay
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
As an Episcopal priest, I’d be the last person to gainsay the importance of prayer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
He’s only bringing it up to gainsay it: The best revenge, he argues, is revenge.
From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2020
Yet far be it from me to gainsay the delight that many viewers take in “The Princess Bride.”
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 20, 2019
He’s not sure he has “the emotional fuel” for another presidential run, and no one can gainsay that for a father who has lost a son.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2015
Dain, about to be crowned the High King, has the power to grant me a place in the Court, the power to gainsay Madoc and make me a knight.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Yet a fluent, pacy new translation by Michael Hofmann gainsays that assumption, opening up the book for English-speakers.
From Economist ● Mar. 8, 2018
Neither Mr. Khan nor Ms. Mac Donald gainsays the historical connection between conservatism and religiosity.
From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2011
She crieth still; gainsays no words Contempt can hurt withal; The daughter's woe her strength affords, And woe nor strength is small.
From A Hidden Life and Other Poems by George MacDonald
This town of Mansoul therefore is my Father's, and that by the best of titles; and he that gainsays the truth of this must lie against his soul.
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 03 by John Bunyan
When self-esteem, or others' adulation, Would cunningly persuade us we are something Above the common level of our kind, The Grave gainsays the smooth-complexion'd flattery, And with blunt truth acquaints us what we are.
From The Poetical Works of Beattie, Blair, and Falconer With Lives, Critical Dissertations, and Explanatory Notes by George Gilfillan
In-house experts are gainsaid by leadership or even made entirely irrelevant as their duties are passed off to the commercial sector.
From Slate ● May 6, 2020
None has suggested, however, that a president’s voluntary decision to provide materials to Congress can be gainsaid, either by subordinate executive-branch officials or the courts.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 12, 2018
Getting hit by a foul ball or a broken bat is a known risk of attending baseball games, and the potential for major injuries cannot be gainsaid.
From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2015
My evaluation process would be a lot simpler and less anxiety-ridden if I knew I would never be gainsaid by any student.
From Salon ● May 25, 2013
When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
And as for amateurs gainsaying the work of the Centro Stile design department, I think that’s adorable.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026
There can be no gainsaying Milei’s economic achievements since he took office in December 2023.
From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025
There can be no gainsaying that Boeing has been in a bad way at least since 2018, the last year in which the company booked an annual profit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025
“Whether one agrees with her opinions or not, there’s no gainsaying her prominent place in the history of American political thought,” he said.
From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2018
You're right, old fellow, there's no gainsaying them.
From Quicksands by Adolph Streckfuss
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
