【学个词  gainsay】 gainsay - vt. 反驳；否定 ;n. 否认；反对; gainsayer - n.

　　Definition:

　　transitive verb

　　1 : to declare to be untrue or invalid

　　2 : CONTRADICT, OPPOSE

　　did not dare to gainsay the king

　　Did you know?

　　You might have trouble figuring out the meaning of gainsay if you’re thinking of our modern word gain plus say. It should help to know that the gain part comes to us from the Old English word gan-, meaning “against” or “in opposition to.” In Middle English, gan- was joined to seyen (“to say”) to form gein-seyen, which led to the modern word gainsay. So when you see gainsay, think “to say against”—that is, “to deny” or “to contradict.”

　　Synonyms 

        contradict,deny,disaffirm,disallow,disavow,disclaim,disconfirm,disown,

         negate,negative,refute,rejectrepudiate

　　Choose the Right Synonym for gainsay

　　DENY, GAINSAY, CONTRADICT, CONTRAVENE mean to refuse to accept as true or valid.

　　DENY implies a firm refusal to accept as true, to grant or concede, or to acknowledge the existence or claims of.

　　denied the charges

　　GAINSAY implies disputing the truth of what another has said.

　　no one can gainsay her claims

　　CONTRADICT implies an open or flat denial.

　　her account contradicts his

　　CONTRAVENE implies not so much an intentional opposition as some inherent incompatibility.

　　laws that contravene tradition

　　Example Sentences

　　1 it can't be gainsaid that most people wish they had more time and money

　　2 repeatedly tried to gainsay me, though every point I made was backed up by facts

　　3 And if the judges are ever to gainsay the popular will with just cause, their institutional independence is the bulwark of their authority to do so.

　　—Matthew J. Franck, National Review, 12 Sep. 2021

　　4 Great poems often gainsay in the very act of saying.

　　—Matthew Bevis, The New York Review of Books, 26 Sep. 2020

　　5 Some of the yo-yoing on display has been the product of mindless, gainsaying partisanship.

　　—Charles C. W. Cooke, National Review, 16 Apr. 2020