Gainsayer

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who contradicts or denies what is alleged; an opposer.
  2. 2
    A person who gainsays others; a disagreeable person.

    "First, The writer, positively asserts, "That Wood's halfpence were current among us for several months with the universal approbation of all people, without one single gainsayer"."

Example

More examples

"First, The writer, positively asserts, "That Wood's halfpence were current among us for several months with the universal approbation of all people, without one single gainsayer"."

Etymology

From Middle English aȝenseyere, equivalent to gainsay + -er.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.