unsay
Americanverb (used with object)
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unsays,
present (3rd person singular)
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unsaid,
past participle, past
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unsaying
present participle
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:
But as soon as I said it, I couldn't unsay it.
From Salon ● Apr. 14, 2023
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
Afterward she always apologized, but she couldn’t unsay what she'd just said.
From "Maybe He Just Likes You" by Barbara Dee
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 G. W. (George William) Foote
"Marry him without a word against it to dread from me—so long as he unsays the words and undoes the deeds which have thrown a doubt on the marriage of Arnold and Blanche."
From Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins
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 Anthony Trollope
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 J. M. (John Mackinnon) Robertson
But the present and possibly future Green Lanterns were summoned there for a reason best left unsaid here, and in keeping with HBO’s extensive spoiler embargo.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Or is that a conversation better left unsaid?
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026
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
There was so much left unsaid in her story, that we saw playing in her eyes, as she spoke only part of it.
From "Everything Sad Is Untrue" by Daniel Nayeri
And then they unsay it, and they keep unsaying it, breaking their own rules over and over again.
From The Guardian ● May 13, 2017
But the bibliolatrist cannot say that; because, if he does, then he is formally unsaying the very principle which is meant by bibliolatry.
From Theological Essays and Other Papers — Volume 1 by Thomas De Quincey
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 T. S. (Timothy Shay) Arthur
Do you know, I almost feel tempted to give way to this Martinmas summer of love, to stultify my past by unsaying and undoing everything.
From The Woman Who Did by Grant Allen
"Old men, and far from well, who have lived such a long time in their peace," they have made the laborious journey, and are now valiantly suppressing their homesickness, and unsaying their involuntary complaints.
From Letters of Catherine Benincasa by Saint of Siena Catherine
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.
