Is anyone else perplexed by the word "gainsaying"??? It just doent make sense to me?
by 
loveschimps
ANSWERS: 2
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I thought it meant by talking a lot you make your point further.
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1) To gainsay means to contradict. You can understand this verb by looking at its etymology. It uses the older form "gain" found in "a-gain-st"; "gain" means "against". To gain-say means to say something against what someone else says: to contradict. 2) "Verb to gainsay (third-person singular simple present gainsays, present participle gainsaying, simple past and past participle gainsaid) To contradict; to deny; to controvert; to dispute; to forbid. Must you gainsay my every word?" Source and further information: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gainsay 3) "gainsay "to contradict," c.1300, lit. "say against," from O.E. gegn- "against" + say. "Solitary survival of a once common prefix" [Weekley], which was used to form such now-obsolete compounds as gain-taking "taking back again," gainclap "a counterstroke," gainbuy "redeem," and gainstand "to oppose."" Source and further information: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=gainsay&searchmode=none
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