Gainsay vs Refuse - What's the difference?
gainsay | refuse |
To contradict; to withsay; to deny, refute; to controvert; to dispute; to forbid.
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* 1902 , , The Hound of the Baskervilles :
* {{quote-news
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, title= Griffith acted, and lived, by Golden Rule
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(UK) Collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.
To decline (a request or demand).
* Bible, Isa. i. 20
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To decline a request or demand, forbear; to withhold permission.
(military) To throw back, or cause to keep back (as the centre, a wing, or a flank), out of the regular alignment when troops are about to engage the enemy.
(obsolete) To disown.
* Shakespeare
As verbs the difference between gainsay and refuse
is that gainsay is to contradict; to withsay; to deny, refute; to controvert; to dispute; to forbid while refuse is to decline (a request or demand).As an adjective refuse is
discarded, rejected.As a noun refuse is
collectively, items or material that have been discarded; rubbish, garbage.gainsay
English
Verb
- Know then that in the time of the Great Rebellion (the history of which by the learned Lord Clarendon I most earnestly commend to your attention) this Manor of Baskerville was held by Hugo of that name, nor can it be gainsaid that he was a most wild, profane, and godless man.
citation, page=5, Features , passage=And there was something childlike about Griffith, too, even in his Matlock days, as a deceptively sharp 'simple country lawyer,' a big-kid boyishness that did not mask his intelligence or gainsay his authority. }}
Derived terms
* gainsayer * gainsayingrefuse
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) .Noun
(-)Synonyms
* discards * garbage (US ) * rubbish (UK ) * trash (US ) * See alsoEtymology 2
From (etyl) refuser, from .Verb
(refus)- My request for a pay rise was refused .
- I refuse to listen to this nonsense any more.
- If ye refuse ye shall be devoured with the sword.
citation, page= , passage=City were outclassed thereafter and Roberto Mancini said that substitute Carlos Tevez refused to play.}}
- I asked the star if I could have her autograph, but she refused .
- to refuse the right wing while the left wing attacks
- Refuse thy name.