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:
Since June, it’s been harder to gainsay him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
As an Episcopal priest, I’d be the last person to gainsay the importance of prayer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2022
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
Although the movie doesn’t really position Jackson as a has-been, it also doesn’t forcefully gainsay the notion that the best thing he can do for Ally is get out of her way.
From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2018
There was an argument, of course, but Mal in these last few days had become difficult to gainsay.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
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
And whoso'er gainsays King Edward's right, By this I challenge him to single fight.
From King Henry VI, Part 3 by William Shakespeare
But the reviewer gainsays all this, and even does more.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 383, August 1, 1829 by Various
That she was blind In her religious ethics, none deny; That she had faults, no champion gainsays; She lifted bloody hands against the sky; She filled the avenging measure of her days.
From Montezuma An Epic on the Origin and Fate of the Aztec Nation by Hiram Hoyt Richmond
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
Yet the scale of Pizarro's triumph at Cajamarca cannot be gainsaid.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
There is no gainsaying that top of the agenda in South African sport now is that black lives matter.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 21, 2020
"The woman you met by the Scotish Sea, My Liege, would tell you a thing; And she says that her present need for speech Will bear no gainsaying."
From Heroines That Every Child Should Know Tales for Young People of the World's Heroines of All Ages by Various
Definitions 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.
