Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To retract (something said).
from The Century Dictionary.
- To recant or recall after having been said; retract; take back: as, to
unsay one's words.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To recant or recall, as what has been said; to refract; to take back again; to make as if not said.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
withdraw ,retract (something said). - verb To not have
said (since this is physically impossible usually in thesubjunctive , as I wish I could unsay).
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb take back what one has said
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Since Decius gives thee power, -- that word unsay!
Polyeucte Pierre Corneille 1645
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So unsay thy words, Nam-Bok, that we may yet honor thee.
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I cannot unsay them -- but at least I can clean up the toxic waste I've left behind.
they shoot horses, don't they? batwrangler 2009
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They told us that on radio it was very easy and simple for people to just say things and then on the next day just say something else or unsay what they said before.
Mozambique's free newspaper becomes a tool for social transformation | Richard M Kavuma 2011
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I unsay my comment about the lack of lower middle class upbringing amongst posters on this blog.
Taxes and Market Time, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009
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So unsay thy words, Nam-Bok, that we may yet honor thee.
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And the stuck-ness, for the working novelist - or at least for this one - has to do with not wanting to get into certain intensely fraught or private experiences, finding - having - feeling that it's absolutely necessary to say things that are absolutely unsay-able.
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And the stuck-ness, for the working novelist - or at least for this one - has to do with not wanting to get into certain intensely fraught or private experiences, finding - having - feeling that it's absolutely necessary to say things that are absolutely unsay-able.
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And the stuck-ness, for the working novelist - or at least for this one - has to do with not wanting to get into certain intensely fraught or private experiences, finding - having - feeling that it's absolutely necessary to say things that are absolutely unsay-able.
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Cameron was so annoyed he sat down and angrily wobbled his jowls for a full 45 minutes probably, while Young ran around trying to unsay his own words.
You've never had it so good, says Lord Young. By accident. Before promptly stepping down Charlie Brooker 2010
minerva commented on the word unsay
...and since he thought it necessary to tell the people below anything about me, I insisted that he should unsay all he had said, and tell them the truth.
Clarissa Harlowe to Anna Howe, Clarissa by Samuel Richardson
December 10, 2007
bilby commented on the word unsay
Hmmm. Could also be sun in Pig Latin.
July 5, 2008