noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Authority, as backing some statement, injunction, or command. informal

   "I wouldn't buy anything that expensive just on the say-so of a saleman."

2. 2
   the power or right to give orders or make decisions wordnet
3. 3
   an authoritative declaration wordnet
4. 4
   one chap's arbitrary assertion wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

allegationannouncementannunciationassertionauthorisationauthority

Example

More examples

"Don't let anyone in there without Tom's say-so."

Etymology

From say + so.

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