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Detractor vs Gainsayer - What's the difference?

detractor | gainsayer |

As nouns the difference between detractor and gainsayer

is that detractor is a person who belittles the worth of another person or cause while gainsayer is one who contradicts or denies what is alleged; an opposer.

detractor

English

Alternative forms

* detractour (qualifier)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person who belittles the worth of another person or cause.
  • * 2012 , Tom Lamont, How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world'' (in ''The Daily Telegraph , 15 November 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/15/mumford-sons-biggest-band-world]
    • Four polite Englishmen in their middle 20s, feigning like firewater drunks in a Eugene O'Neill play: it's exactly the stuff that makes their detractors groan.

    Synonyms

    * slanderer * libeler * cynic * mudslinger * defamer

    Antonyms

    * proponent * supporter

    gainsayer

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One who contradicts or denies what is alleged; an opposer.
  • A person who gainsays others; a disagreeable person.
  • * 1724 , , The Drapier's Letters , "Letter IV: A Letter to the Whole People of Ireland":
    • First, The writer, positively asserts, "That Wood's halfpence were current among us for several months with the universal approbation of all people, without one single gainsayer ".
  • * 2000 , Robin McKie, " 'Super Brain' to eclipse the Net adds to power of machines," The Observer'' at ''guardian.co.uk , 21 May (retrieved 8 Sep. 2008):
    • This urge to ensure the continued viability of UK science is balanced by warnings that such a system brings closer the day when computers will take over the running of the world and discard humanity. One such gainsayer is Bill Joy, inventor of the web language Java and chief scientist at computer giant Sun Microsystems.

    Synonyms

    * withsayer

    References

    *