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Glite Dictionary
to gainsay

to gainsay

1 9.9
To say something is not true
  • verb
  • /ˈɡeɪnˌseɪ/
  • Formal
translation icon : contradecir
  • And, you know, you can't gainsay that, because the records, you know, the records were very good.

So I I don't the gainsay that, but the book is thoughtless.

Examples

  • No one ever gainsaid him.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • However, there can be no gainsaying the acuity of Seunen's ecclesiological principle on the essential role of the Holy Spirit.

    Academic text (2008)

  • There were none left to gainsay him.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • You will not gainsay me.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Call it whatever you like; there is no gainsaying the impact.

    Academic text (2004)

  • Who could gainsay him?

    Academic text (2003)

  • Postmodern critics of culture gainsay the cultural stability that anthropologists emphasize.

    Academic text (2006)

  • I cannot gainsay their logic on the grounds of any reasonable intellectual continua such as global-local, structure-agency, or traditional innovative.

    Academic text (1990)

  • The difficulty of operationalizing "good governance" does not gainsay Yotopoulos's contention that postwar Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan sequenced their industrial promotion more sensibly than did their Latin American counterparts.

    Academic text (1998)

  • Everyone agrees, there is no way to gainsay the importance of education for a successful future.

Synonyms

to challenge
vsto gainsay
  • Formal
552 4.3

To officially say that a decision, person, or evidence is not acceptable

is a direct denial rather than a formal objection or protest
to dispute
vsto gainsay
158 3.5

To argue about something or question if it is true

is more about outright denial than arguing or questioning
to debunk
vsto gainsay
57 5.7

To show that an idea or claim is false with clear facts

is the simpler act of declaring something untrue without exposure
to contravene
vsto gainsay
1 8.3

To say that a statement is not true

is a broader act of declaring statements untrue or invalid
disconfirming
vsto gainsay
8.1

Data that shows a claim is wrong

is about stating untruth rather than proving it with evidence

Antonyms

to confirm
∞ 1.8

To show that something is true by giving evidence

to affirm
108 4.1

To state clearly that something is true or show support for it

How Strongly

to refute
  • Formal
88 6.2
to gainsay
  • Formal
1 9.9
to challenge
  • Formal
552 4.3
to question
777 3.5

Surface Forms

gainsay infinitive
gainsaying present participle
gainsays third person singular
gainsaid past
gainsaid past participle

Etymology

Gainsay comes from old English parts gegn meaning 'against' and say meaning 'to say'. It literally meant 'to say against', so today to gainsay is to deny or to say the opposite of a fact or statement.