unsay
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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unsaysimple
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unsayssimple
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have unsaidperfect
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has unsaidperfect
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am unsayingprogressive
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are unsayingprogressive
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is unsayingprogressive
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have been unsayingperfect progressive
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has been unsayingperfect progressive
Past
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unsaidsimple
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had unsaidperfect
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was unsayingprogressive
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were unsayingprogressive
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had been unsayingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of unsay
First recorded in 1425–75, unsay is from the late Middle English word unsayen. See un- 2, say 1
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:
Yet he can’t unsay what was said on the audio tape.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 2018
This is the reality-TV kind of reality where, in post-production, you can unsay anything.
From Washington Post ● May 4, 2018
And then they unsay it, and they keep unsaying it, breaking their own rules over and over again.
From The Guardian ● May 13, 2017
Galliano can’t unsay or undo the gross, offensive things that happened two years ago.
From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2013
Now that I’ve thought it and said it, I can’t unthink it and unsay it.
From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon
Lethem’s revisionist project ultimately unsays as much as it says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
Mr. Hughes forgets—or does he forget?—that in the sequel to this poem, entitled Sixty Years After, Tennyson unsays all the high-pitched dispraise of Amy and her squire.
From Flowers of Freethought (Second Series) by Foote, G. W. (George William)
Do not accuse him of falsehood because he unsays on a Tuesday the words he said on the Monday.
From The Life of Cicero Volume II. by Trollope, Anthony
Mr. Sumner's speech in the Senate unsays no part of his Faneuil Hall pledge.
From American Eloquence, Volume 2 Studies In American Political History (1896) by Johnston, Alexander
And in the last essay of all he makes a campaign against bad laws, which unsays many of his previous sayings on the blessedness of custom.
From Montaigne and Shakspere by Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon)
John F. Kennedy was a sailor and "the second most good-looking president," Trump said, leaving unsaid who is the first.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
Thankfully, Babitz did exactly that — no rambling thoughts, petty accusations or amusing missives left unsaid.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 12, 2026
This week on Amicus, that changes: Two judges sat down with us to talk openly about what often goes unsaid.
From Slate ● May 9, 2026
For a series centred on what goes unsaid, both actors reflected on how difficult it can be to open up in real life.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2026
I knew exactly what was going to happen to my penny through the next two pages and I couldn’t bear to leave it unsaid.
From "Boy: Tales of a Childhood" by Roald Dahl
And then they unsay it, and they keep unsaying it, breaking their own rules over and over again.
From The Guardian ● May 13, 2017
Time and again in her heart of hearts had she planned how those unsaying words should be said, and said just as soon as ever he came, but he came rather soon and suddenly.
From A Tame Surrender, A Story of The Chicago Strike by King, Charles
There was a sort of mad entreaty in his eyes, as if he hoped that by unsaying she could remedy an irremediable disaster, and there was nothing left of him but those panic-stricken, beseeching eyes.
From The Inheritors by Conrad, Joseph
But pride prompted this, for he said to himself, "If Margaret and I keep at this childish work of unsaying each other's commands, that sharp old fellow, Reuben, will suspect that we have quarrelled."
From Friends and Neighbors by Arthur, T. S. (Timothy Shay)
And how was that unsaying to be accomplished?
From The Vicar of Bullhampton by Trollope, Anthony
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.
