gainsay
- to deny, dispute, or contradict.
- to speak or act against; oppose.
Origin of gainsay
Related Words for gainsay
contravene, traverse, impugn, combat, disclaim, repudiate, refute, disagree, deny, fight, resist, controvert, oppose, negative, disprove, negate, cross, withstand, dispute, disaffirmExamples from the Web for gainsay
Contemporary Examples of gainsay
But it will be a cost, and it will be large -- nobody can gainsay that.
As long as the United States was the economic primus inter pares, those arguments were hard to gainsay.
Historical Examples of gainsay
After that it was fit that silence should again intervene, for I could not gainsay him.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
I have my own roof, such as it is, and no one to gainsay me under it.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
Arthur felt that he was, in some measure, and did not gainsay it.
The ChanningsMrs. Henry Wood
This fine deed was soon forgotten, and there are even people who gainsay it.
My Double LifeSarah Bernhardt
After the invading army had retired, no one will gainsay the sound sense of his behaviour.
AgesilausXenophon
gainsay
- (tr) archaic, or literary to deny (an allegation, a statement, etc); contradict
Word Origin for gainsay
Word Origin and History for gainsay
"contradict," c.1300, literally "say against," from Old English gegn- "against" (see again) + say (v.). "Solitary survival of a once common prefix" [Weekley], which was used to form such now-obsolete compounds as gain-taking "taking back again," gainclap "a counterstroke," gainbuy "redeem," and gainstand "to oppose." Related: Gainsaid; gainsaying.