different between gainsay vs disavow

English

Etymology

From Middle English gainsayen, ?einseggen (“to say against, say in opposition to”), equivalent to gain- +? say. Compare Old Danish gensige (“to speak against; gainsay”), Swedish gensaga (“a speaking against; protest”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?e?n?se?/
• (US, also) IPA^(key): /??e?n?se?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

gainsay (third-person singular simple present gainsays, present participle gainsaying, simple past and past participle gainsaid)

1. (transitive, formal) To say something in contradiction to.

   Synonyms: controvert, deny, dispute, refute, withsay

Derived terms

• gainsayer
• gainsaying

Translations

Anagrams

• angiyas, gaysian

English

Etymology

dis- +? avow, or from Old French desavouer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s??va?/
• Rhymes: -a?

Verb

disavow (third-person singular simple present disavows, present participle disavowing, simple past and past participle disavowed)

1. (transitive) To strongly and solemnly refuse to own or acknowledge; to deny responsibility for, approbation of, and the like.

   Synonyms: abjure, deny, disclaim, disown, reject

   Antonyms: accept, own up

2. (transitive) To deny; to show the contrary of; to deny legitimacy or achievement of any kind.

   Synonyms: disprove, deny, impugn, reject, repudiate

   Antonyms: accept, prove

Quotations

• 1809 — James Madison, First State of the Union address

  These considerations not having restrained the British Government from disavowing the arrangement by virtue of which its orders in council were to be revoked, and the event authorizing the renewal of commercial intercourse having thus not taken place, it necessarily became a question of equal urgency and importance whether the act prohibiting that intercourse was not to be considered as remaining in legal force.

• 1884 — Edwin Abbott Abbott, Flatland

  In a still more obscure passage he now desires to disavow the Circular or aristocratic tendencies with which some critics have naturally credited him.

• 1901 — H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon, ch 12

  It came to me as an absolute, for a moment an overwhelming shock. It seemed as though it wasn't a face, as though it must needs be a mask, a horror, a deformity, that would presently be disavowed or explained.

Related terms

• disavowal
• disavowed

Translations

Anagrams

• Wavoids