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Definitions

gainsay

[gayn-say, gayn-say] / ˈgeɪnˌseɪ, geɪnˈseɪ /


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.

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Since June, it’s been harder to gainsay him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025

As an Episcopal priest, I’d be the last person to gainsay the importance of prayer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2022

He’s only bringing it up to gainsay it: The best revenge, he argues, is revenge.

From Slate ● Feb. 26, 2020

Why anyone would gainsay efforts as generous as Bilbao and, judging from photographs, the Vuitton museum, or would ambush, with a nasty question, the man who made them beggars comprehension.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 27, 2014

He spoke with an earnestness that it was hard to gainsay.

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie

Yet a fluent, pacy new translation by Michael Hofmann gainsays that assumption, opening up the book for English-speakers.

From Economist ● Mar. 8, 2018

Neither Mr. Khan nor Ms. Mac Donald gainsays the historical connection between conservatism and religiosity.

From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2011

Happiest, merriest ways, Knowing no gainsays, so the story says, Since the Great Râm loved and blessed you, With his care-worn hand caressed you, In the olden days.

From The Adventures of Akbar by Byam Shaw

Acting otherwise, as he may do, the free agent gainsays his own nature, taken as a whole, a thing that a necessary agent can nowise do.

From Moral Philosophy by Joseph Rickaby, S.J.

The King gainsays thy wedding couch, and dowry justly bought By very blood, and for his throne an outland heir is sought.

From The Æneids of Virgil Done into English Verse by William Morris

In-house experts are gainsaid by leadership or even made entirely irrelevant as their duties are passed off to the commercial sector.

From Slate ● May 6, 2020

None has suggested, however, that a president’s voluntary decision to provide materials to Congress can be gainsaid, either by subordinate executive-branch officials or the courts.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 12, 2018

Getting hit by a foul ball or a broken bat is a known risk of attending baseball games, and the potential for major injuries cannot be gainsaid.

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2015

My evaluation process would be a lot simpler and less anxiety-ridden if I knew I would never be gainsaid by any student.

From Salon ● May 25, 2013

When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

And as for amateurs gainsaying the work of the Centro Stile design department, I think that’s adorable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

There can be no gainsaying Milei’s economic achievements since he took office in December 2023.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025

There can be no gainsaying that Boeing has been in a bad way at least since 2018, the last year in which the company booked an annual profit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025

“Whether one agrees with her opinions or not, there’s no gainsaying her prominent place in the history of American political thought,” he said.

From New York Times ● Feb. 13, 2018

They are lords of the North beyond gainsaying.

From The Land of Frozen Suns by Bertrand W. Sinclair


Vocabulary lists containing gainsay

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