naysay
See also: nay-say
English
Etymology
From nay + say
Noun
naysay (plural naysays)
- (chiefly US) Alternative spelling of nay-say
- 1897, William Morris, “Chapter XII. Birdalone Cometh Again to the Isle of Queens, and Findeth a Perilous Adventure Therein”, in The Water of the Wondrous Isles (Fantasy), Project Gutenberg, published 2005:
- And her bare feet fell to telling her clad sides of the sweet coolness of the water, and waited for no naysay, ...
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Verb
naysay (third-person singular simple present naysays, present participle naysaying, simple past and past participle naysaid)
- (chiefly US) Alternative spelling of nay-say (“say no to; deny, disagree, or oppose”)
- 1897, William Morris, “Chapter VI. Of the Sundering of Birdalone from Gerard and His Sons”, in The Water of the Wondrous Isles (Fantasy), Project Gutenberg, published 2005:
- I shall nowise naysay thee this, for I love thee, and now and ever shalt thou be unto me as a brother, ...
- 2008 Jan, Arden Dale, “Want to Sell a Business? You May Not Be Ready.”, in Wall Street Journal:
- He advises that board members must have solid knowledge of business in general and be independent enough to naysay the owner at times.
- 2009 Nov, Alex Massie, Nicholas, “The March of the Surveillance State, comments”, in Spectator, UK:
- This amount of bureaucratic surveillance and cross-referencing is very resonant of East Germany (whatever the paranoia accusing naysayers naysay) ...
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Synonyms
- gainsay
Antonyms
- yeasay
Derived terms
- naysayer
References
- “naysay” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- “naysay” in Microsoft's Encarta World English Dictionary, North American Edition (2007)
- Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)
- Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary (1987-1996)