gainsay
pronunciation
How to pronounce gainsay in British English:
UK [ˌɡeɪnˈseɪ]
How to pronounce gainsay in American English:
US [ˌɡeɪnˈseɪ]
-
- Verb:
- take exception to
Word Origin
- gainsay (v.)
- "contradict, deny, dispute," c. 1300, literally "say against," from gain- (Old English gegn- "against;" see again) + say (v.). In Middle English it translates Latin contradicere. "Solitary survival of a once common prefix" [Weekley]. It also figured in such now-obsolete compounds as gain-taking "taking back again," gainclap "a counterstroke," gainbuy "redeem," Gaincoming "Second Advent," and gainstand "to oppose." Related: Gainsaid; gainsaying.
Antonym
Example
- 1. Such pain is hard to gainsay .
- 2. And no science , logic or reason could either gainsay or sustain it .
- 3. Ex. she is a fine woman - that nobody can gainsay .
- 4. Nobody can gainsay the extraordinary achievement wrought by china in the fastest industrial revolution in human history .
- 5. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom , which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist .