English

Noun

naysay ‎(plural naysays)

1. (chiefly US) Alternative spelling of nay-say A refusal, denial, gainsay, disagreement or negation

   • 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, ...

Verb

naysay ‎(third-person singular simple present naysays, present participle naysaying, simple past and past participle naysaid)

1. (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) ...

Derived terms

• naysayer

Synonyms

• gainsay

Antonyms

• yeasay

References

• “naysay” in Dictionary.com Unabridged, v1.0.1, Lexico Publishing Group, 2006.
• “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)