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
I know that I cannot unsay those words, but please accept my sincerest apologies.”
From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2019
Yet he can’t unsay what was said on the audio tape.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 13, 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
I was trying to unsay my foolish remark about lawyers.
From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan
Lethem’s revisionist project ultimately unsays as much as it says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023
She unsays her words, she gives herself the lie, she says to the children, “Be old!”
From La Sorcière: The Witch of the Middle Ages by Jules Michelet
There is something half laughable and half provoking in the facility with which he asserts and retracts, says and unsays, exactly as suits his argument.
From Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches — Volume 2 by Thomas Babington Macaulay, Baron Macaulay
Besides which, he is grown moral, and unsays all his former good things.
From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 1 by Lucia Isabella Gilbert Runkle
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
Left unsaid was whether Tehran is prepared to permanently drop its demand that it should be able to collect tolls from transiting commercial vessels and if those negotiations would lead to a fully reopened waterway.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 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
Luke stopped himself, but Toby didn’t want anything left unsaid.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
And then they unsay it, and they keep unsaying it, breaking their own rules over and over again.
From The Guardian ● May 13, 2017
"I unsay every word," said Mr. Merridew, for the second time, and more pointedly than ever; for, even in his really generous emotion, he could not help feeling that it was unsaying a great deal.
From Denis Dent A Novel by Ernest W. Hornung
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
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 Joseph Conrad
And how was that unsaying to be accomplished?
From The Vicar of Bullhampton by Anthony Trollope
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.
