Naysayer

//ˈneɪˌseɪ.ɚ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who consistently denies, criticizes, or doubts; a detractor.

    "He ignored the naysayers and succeeded with his idea."

  2. 2
    someone with an aggressively negative attitude wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
pessimistanomalybitter-enderbrawlercrosspatchcynic

Example

More examples

"He ignored the naysayers and succeeded with his idea."

Etymology

Origin: 1715–1725, from nay + say + -er, equivalent to naysay + -er. First recorded use: 1721.

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