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say
1[ sey ]
verb (used with object)
- to utter or pronounce; speak:
What did you say? I said “Hello!”
Say it clearly and simply. It's hard to know how to say this tactfully.
- to state as an opinion or judgment:
I say her plan is the better one.
- to be certain, precise, or assured about; determine:
It is hard to say what is wrong.
- to recite or repeat:
to say one's prayers.
- to report or allege; maintain:
People say he will resign.
- to express (a message, viewpoint, etc.), as through a literary or other artistic medium:
a writer with something to say.
- to indicate or show:
What does your watch say?
- to assume as a hypothesis or estimate:
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that it's true.
verb (used without object)
- to speak; declare; express an opinion.
adverb
It's, say, 14 feet long.
- for example:
If you serve, say tuna fish and potato chips, it will cost much less.
noun
- what a person says or has to say.
- the right or opportunity to speak, decide, or exercise influence:
to have one's say in choosing the candidate.
- a turn to say something:
It is now my say.
interjection
- (used to express surprise, get attention, etc.)
say
2[ sey ]
verb (used with object)
- British Dialect. assay.
say
3[ sey ]
noun
- a thin silk or woolen fabric similar to serge, much used in the 16th century.
Say
4[ sey ]
noun
- Jean Bap·tiste [zhah, n, b, a, -, teest], 1767–1832, French economist. Compare Say's law.
- Thomas, 1787–1834, U.S. entomologist.
say
1/ seɪ /
verb
- to speak, pronounce, or utter
- also intr to express (an idea) in words; tell
we asked his opinion but he refused to say
- also intr; may take a clause as object to state (an opinion, fact, etc) positively; declare; affirm
- to recite
to say grace
- may take a clause as object to report or allege
they say we shall have rain today
- may take a clause as object to take as an assumption; suppose
let us say that he is lying
- may take a clause as object to convey by means of artistic expression
the artist in this painting is saying that we should look for hope
- to make a case for
there is much to be said for either course of action
- usually passive to persuade or coax (someone) to do something
If I hadn't been said by her, I wouldn't be in this fix
- go without sayingto be so obvious as to need no explanation
- I say! informal.an exclamation of surprise
- not to sayeven; and indeed
- that is to sayin other words; more explicitly
- to say nothing ofas well as; even disregarding
he was warmly dressed in a shirt and heavy jumper, to say nothing of a thick overcoat
- to say the leastwithout the slightest exaggeration; at the very least
adverb
- approximately
there were, say, 20 people present
- for example
choose a number, say, four
noun
- the right or chance to speak
let him have his say
- authority, esp to influence a decision
he has a lot of say in the company's policy
- a statement of opinion
you've had your say, now let me have mine
interjection
- informal.an exclamation to attract attention or express surprise, etc
say
2/ seɪ /
noun
- archaic.a type of fine woollen fabric
Derived Forms
- ˈsayer, noun
Other Words From
- sayer noun
Word History and Origins
Origin of say1
Origin of say2
Origin of say3
Word History and Origins
Origin of say1
Origin of say2
Idioms and Phrases
- that is to say. that ( def 16 ).
More idioms and phrases containing say
- before you can say Jack Robinson
- cry (say) uncle
- do as I say
- give (say) the word
- go without (saying)
- have a say in
- I dare say
- I'll say
- needless to say
- never say die
- never say never
- not to mention (say nothing of)
- on one's say-so
- strange to say
- suffice it to say
- that is (to say)
- to say the least
- you can say that again
- you don't say
- said
Example Sentences
And more I cannot explain/but you, from what I did not say/will infer what I do not say.
Compston managed all this without the say-so of the Courtauld, which sent him a stinging letter.
Marchman takes it as a given that MLB basing its case on the say-so of a sketchy Floridian drug-dealer is preposterous.
How does Romney give that answer on national television and force his campaign into what-he-really-meant-to-say mode?
Matthew Yglesias on how the right's just-say-no game helped bring the left together.
Or ne say-je quelle estoit sa maladie; si elle venoit seulement par intervalles, ou non, je n'en say rien: tant y a que le 2.
ITo heaven cry aloud, and to the world:“Who hath reduced her to this pass?Say, say!”
Maybe Marie would wish then that she had thought twice about quitting him just on her mother's say-so.
And hast thou fixed my doom, kind master, say?And wilt thou kill thy servant, old and poor?
And hast thou fixed my doom, sweet master, say?And wilt thou kill thy servant, old and poor?
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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