Make Your Point > Archived Issues > GAINSAY
Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.
connect this word to others:
I found this sentence in a book of Sunday School lessons, and I'll share it with you because it perfectly illustrates the meaning--and the tone--of the word gainsay:
"The work of God was being threatened by gainsayers, men who opposed the church and declared the gospel message false."
A gainsayer, we understand, is an opponent, someone who says "hey, that's false," someone who disagrees or raises questions. A sayer-against.
Gainsayers might get called heretics--or heroes. History is brimming with gainsayers who examined the status quo, then stood up to say, "Actually, I've got a problem with that."
So are you, on occasion, a gainsayer? Are you bold enough to disagree with people, to challenge or even contradict their claims? To say, "No, I'm unconvinced by that logic," or, "Well, do you have any evidence for that?" If so, I applaud you. Keep on gainsaying.
You might gainsay the h_g_m_ny: that is, speak out against society's most powerful, dominant, controlling ideas and groups.
And you'll gainsay the f_ls_f__bl_: that is, speak out against the falsehoods that can be revealed through testing, fact-checking, research, and other means of disproof.
And when you pick the word gainsay to describe what you're doing, you're striking a tone that's serious, even old-fashioned, one that calls to mind these Shakespearean lines:
"What I should say
My tears gainsay; for every word I speak,
Ye see, I drink the water of mine eyes."
(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)
make your point with...
"GAINSAY"
This word means "to say against." To gainsay things or people is to speak against them, to disagree with them, to say that they're wrong.
Pronunciation:
GAIN say
That's the accepted pronunciation, but long ago, it was a matter of dispute. It's discussed in a 1797 text called A Vocabulary of Such Words in the English Language as are of Dubious Or Unsettled Accentuation. That title sounds made-up, right? But it's real, I promise. It goes to show how old, and old-fashioned, the word "gainsay" is.
Part of speech:
Verb, the transitive kind: "they gainsaid him," "her intentions are honorable and can't be gainsaid."
Other forms:
Gainsaid, gainsaying, gainsayer(s).
Rarely, "gainsay" is a noun meaning "disagreement or contradiction," like this: "He's courageous beyond gainsay."
How to use it:
This word is formal and serious. It usually sounds literary or old-fashioned. So if that's not the tone you're going for, pick a less intense synonym, like "dispute," "oppose," or "contradict."
You can gainsay people, or gainsay their claims, comments, choices, rules, orders, demands, roles, contributions, etc.
And you can gainsay people's motives, devotion, or earnestness.
You can also gainsay things, like theories, hypotheses, patterns, accounts, premises, interpretations, conclusions, etc.
Finally, as the upcoming examples will show, we often use "gainsay" in a negative sense, pointing out what can't be gainsaid, what's hard to gainsay, what there's no gainsaying, etc.
examples:
"Striding forth again from retirement, No-Kami issued orders so prompt and to the purpose that there was no gainsaying them."
— Lewis Wingfield, The Curse of Koshiu, 1888
"The phase of construction already completed, the first of three, represents about 60 percent of a $65 million project to be completed in 2016... Some of the campus’s rustic charm and sense of roughing it is being lost. But it is hard to gainsay the musical and educational values advanced by the project."
— James R. Oestreich, The New York Times, 29 July 2013
has this page helped you understand "gainsay"?
study it:
Explain the meaning of "gainsay" without saying "dispute" or "contradict."
try it out:
Fill in the blanks: "Although (someone or something is imperfect in some way), there's no gainsaying (a certain excellent quality or effect)."
Example: "Although the tune to 'Truth Hurts' is repetitive, even monotonous in places, there's no gainsaying the song's overall catchiness or its ability to lift you out of a gray mood."
before you review, play:
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
In August, we're playing the time-honored Game of Venery!
We're inventing terms for groups of things: terms that James Lipton, the author of An Exaltation of Larks, calls "shards of poetry and truth." Example terms of venery include lovely ones like "a conflagration of fireflies" and silly ones like "a myopia of umpires," "a rash of dermatologists," and "an unemployment of graduates."
In each issue this month, I'll offer two templates. Have fun filling them in and sharing your inventions with your family, being as lofty, silly, or bawdy as you like. In each subsequent issue, I'll list the actual terms that appear in Lipton's book.
From the previous issue:
1. A caprice of _____
2. A _____ of managing editors
The terms listed in the book are "a caprice of assignment editors" and "a penultimatum of managing editors."
Try this last set today:
1. A labyrinth of _____
2. A _____ of luggage
review this word:
1. A near opposite of GAINSAY is
A. ACCEPT.
B. OPPOSE.
C. RELINQUISH.
2. Their claims are _____, but I lack the _____ to gainsay them.
A. fascinating .. time
B. outrageous .. nerve
C. reasonable .. expertise
a final word:
I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.
I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.
From my blog:
36 ways to study words.
Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
To be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.
Disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.
I found this sentence in a book of Sunday School lessons, and I'll share it with you because it perfectly illustrates the meaning--and the tone--of the word gainsay:
"GAINSAY" This word means "to say against." To gainsay things or people is to speak against them, to disagree with them, to say that they're wrong.
"Striding forth again from retirement, No-Kami issued orders so prompt and to the purpose that there was no gainsaying them."
Explain the meaning of "gainsay" without saying "dispute" or "contradict."
Fill in the blanks: "Although (someone or something is imperfect in some way), there's no gainsaying (a certain excellent quality or effect)."
Spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—let your working memory empty out first.
1. A near opposite of GAINSAY is
|