gainsay

As an Episcopal priest, I’d be the last person to gainsay the importance of prayer.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 27, 2022

Dissenting voices such as Milan Kundera and Harold Bloom have argued that Nineteen Eighty-Four is actually a bad novel, with thin characters, humdrum prose and an implausible plot, but even they couldn’t gainsay its importance.

From The Guardian ● May 19, 2019

Although the movie doesn’t really position Jackson as a has-been, it also doesn’t forcefully gainsay the notion that the best thing he can do for Ally is get out of her way.

From Slate ● Oct. 10, 2018

He’s not sure he has “the emotional fuel” for another presidential run, and no one can gainsay that for a father who has lost a son.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2015

Dain, about to be crowned the High King, has the power to grant me a place in the Court, the power to gainsay Madoc and make me a knight.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black

Yet a fluent, pacy new translation by Michael Hofmann gainsays that assumption, opening up the book for English-speakers.

From Economist ● Mar. 8, 2018

Neither Mr. Khan nor Ms. Mac Donald gainsays the historical connection between conservatism and religiosity.

From New York Times ● Feb. 19, 2011

Acting otherwise, as he may do, the free agent gainsays his own nature, taken as a whole, a thing that a necessary agent can nowise do.

From Moral Philosophy by Joseph Rickaby, S.J.

She crieth still; gainsays no words   Contempt can hurt withal; The daughter's woe her strength affords,   And woe nor strength is small.

From A Hidden Life and Other Poems by George MacDonald

The King gainsays thy wedding couch, and dowry justly bought By very blood, and for his throne an outland heir is sought.

From The Æneids of Virgil Done into English Verse by William Morris

In-house experts are gainsaid by leadership or even made entirely irrelevant as their duties are passed off to the commercial sector.

From Slate ● May 6, 2020

None has suggested, however, that a president’s voluntary decision to provide materials to Congress can be gainsaid, either by subordinate executive-branch officials or the courts.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 12, 2018

Getting hit by a foul ball or a broken bat is a known risk of attending baseball games, and the potential for major injuries cannot be gainsaid.

From New York Times ● Nov. 20, 2015

My evaluation process would be a lot simpler and less anxiety-ridden if I knew I would never be gainsaid by any student.

From Salon ● May 25, 2013

When others spoke they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell.

From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien

And as for amateurs gainsaying the work of the Centro Stile design department, I think that’s adorable.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 18, 2026

There can be no gainsaying Milei’s economic achievements since he took office in December 2023.

From Barron's ● Oct. 17, 2025

There can be no gainsaying that Boeing has been in a bad way at least since 2018, the last year in which the company booked an annual profit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025

There is no gainsaying that top of the agenda in South African sport now is that black lives matter.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 21, 2020

There is no gainsaying its beauty, however, and a brace of birds, with all the old excitement thrown in, are well worth winning, even at considerable risk.

From The Confessions of a Poacher by Anonymous