English Explanatory Dictionary

unsay

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. To withdraw, retract (something said).
  2. To cause something not to have been said; to make it so that one never said something (since this is physically impossible, usually in the subjunctive).

Word forms

unsay unsays unsaying unsaid

Etymology

From Middle English unseyen, unseien, from Old English onseċġan (“to deny, renounce”), from Proto-West Germanic *andasaggjan (“to unsay, renounce, deny”), equivalent to un- + say. Cognate with Dutch ontzeggen (“to deny”), German entsagen (“to renounce, abjure”).

Synonyms

take back unspeak retract
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
Back to search All on U Russian dictionary Dahl dictionary