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Mock vs Say - What's the difference?

mock | say |

As a noun mock

is an imitation, usually of lesser quality.

As a verb mock

is to mimic, to simulate.

As an adjective mock

is imitation, not genuine; fake.

As a proper noun say is

.

mock

English

Alternative forms

* (l) (obsolete)

Noun

(en noun)
  • An imitation, usually of lesser quality.
  • (Crashaw)
  • Mockery, the act of mocking.
  • * Bible, Proverbs xiv. 9
  • Fools make a mock at sin.
  • A practice exam set by an educating institution to prepare students for an important exam.
  • He got a B in his History mock , but improved to an A in the exam.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To mimic, to simulate.
  • * Shakespeare
  • To see the life as lively mocked' as ever / Still sleep ' mocked death.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Mocking marriage with a dame of France.
  • To make fun of by mimicking, to taunt.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xviii. 27
  • Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud.
  • * Gray
  • Let not ambition mock their useful toil.
  • To tantalise, and disappoint (the hopes of).
  • * Bible, Judges xvi. 13
  • Thou hast mocked me, and told me lies.
  • * 1597 , William Shakespeare, Henry IV , Part II, Act V, Scene III:
  • And with his spirit sadly I survive, / to mock the expectations of the world; / to frustrate prophecies, and to raze out / rotten opinion
  • * 1603 , William Shakespeare, Othello , Act III, Scene III:
  • "It is the greene-ey'd Monster, which doth mocke / The meate it feeds on."
  • * 1667 , John Milton, Paradise Lost :
  • Why do I overlive? / Why am I mocked with death, and lengthened out / to deathless pain?
  • * Milton
  • He will not / Mock us with his blest sight, then snatch him hence.
  • * 1765 , Benjamin Heath, A revisal of Shakespear's text , page 563 (a commentary on the "mocke the meate" line from Othello):
  • ‘Mock’ certainly never signifies to loath. Its common signification is, to disappoint.
  • * 1812 , The Critical Review or, Annals of Literature , page 190:
  • The French revolution indeed is a prodigy which has mocked the expectations both of its friends and its foes. It has cruelly disappointed the fondest hopes of the first, nor has it observed that course which the last thought that it would have pursued.

    Synonyms

    * See also * See also

    See also

    * jeer

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Imitation, not genuine; fake.
  • say

    English

    (wikipedia say)

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) seyen, seien, seggen, &c., from (etyl) .

    Verb

  • To pronounce.
  • To recite.
  • * , chapter=5
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.}}
  • To communicate, either verbally or in writing.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=No matter how early I came down, I would find him on the veranda, smoking cigarettes, or otherwise his man would be there with a message to say that his master would shortly join me if I would kindly wait.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said . And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}
  • To indicate in a written form.
  • (impersonal) To have a common expression; (used in singular passive voice or plural active voice to indicate a rumor or well-known fact).
  • * 1815 , :
  • They say that Hope is happiness; But genuine Love must prize the past.
  • * 1819 , Great Britain Court of Chancery, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the High Court of Chancery , page 8:
  • It is said , a bargain cannot be set aside upon inadequacy only.
  • * 1841 , Christopher Marshall, The Knickerbocker (New-York Monthly Magazine) , page 379:
  • It’s said that fifteen wagon loads of ready-made clothes for the Virginia troops came to, and stay in, town to-night.
  • (informal, imperative) Let's say; used to mark an example, supposition or hypothesis.
  • * 1984 , (Martin Amis), Money: a suicide note?
  • I've followed Selina down the strip, when we're shopping, say , and she strolls on ahead, wearing sawn-off jeans and a wash-withered T-shirt
  • To speak; to express an opinion; to make answer; to reply.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • You have said ; but whether wisely or no, let the forest judge.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • To this argument we shall soon have said ; for what concerns it us to hear a husband divulge his household privacies?
  • .
  • *
  • Synonyms
    * See
    Derived terms
    * dessay * doomsaying * nay-say * saith * sayeth * sayer * saying * there is much to be said * what do you say * you don't say

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One's stated opinion or input into a discussion or decision.
  • * 2004 , Richard Rogers, Information politics on the Web
  • Above all, however, we would like to think that there is more to be decided, after the engines and after the humans have had their says .

    References

    * *

    Etymology 2

    Grammaticalization of the verb. In the case of the conjunction, it could be considered an elision of "Let's say that" and for the "for example" sense of "Let's say"

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (colloquial) (non-gloss definition, Used to gain one's attention before making an inquiry or suggestion)
  • Say , what did you think about the movie?
  • For example; let us assume.
  • Pick a color you think they'd like, say , peach.
    He was driving pretty fast, say , fifty miles per hour.
    Synonyms
    * (used to gain attention) hey

    Conjunction

    (English Conjunctions)
  • (informal) (Used to introduce a hypothetical)
  • Say your family is starving and you don't have any money, is it ok to steal some food?

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) saie, from (etyl) saga, plural of .

    Noun

    (-)
  • A type of fine cloth similar to serge.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.iv:
  • All in a kirtle of discolourd say / He clothed was

    Etymology 4

    Aphetic form of assay.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To try; to assay.
  • (Ben Jonson)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Trial by sample; assay; specimen.
  • * Hooker
  • If those principal works of God be but certain tastes and says , as if were, of that final benefit.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thy tongue some say of breeding breathes.
  • Tried quality; temper; proof.
  • * Spenser
  • He found a sword of better say .
  • Essay; trial; attempt.
  • (Ben Jonson)

    Statistics

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