What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Rebuff vs Gainsay - What's the difference?

rebuff | gainsay |

As verbs the difference between rebuff and gainsay

is that rebuff is to refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out while gainsay is to contradict; to withsay; to deny, refute; to controvert; to dispute; to forbid.

As a noun rebuff

is a sudden resistance or refusal.

rebuff

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A sudden resistance or refusal.
    • He was surprised by her quick rebuff to his proposal.
  • Repercussion, or beating back.
  • * Milton
    • the strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To refuse; to offer sudden or harsh resistance; to turn down or shut out.
  • To buff again.

    • Anagrams

    *

    gainsay

    English

    Verb

  • To contradict; to withsay; to deny, refute; to controvert; to dispute; to forbid.
  • *
  • * 1902 , , The Hound of the Baskervilles :
    • 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.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , date=2012-07-07 , first= , last= , author= , authorlink= , coauthors= , title= Griffith acted, and lived, by Golden Rule , newspaper=The Post and Courier , city=Charleston , publisher=Evening Post Publishing , quotee= 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 * gainsaying