say

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If you must use the French word say, née Smith Negotiate_.

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Definitions (74)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (21)

  1. transitive verb To utter aloud; pronounce: The children said, "Good morning.”
  2. transitive verb To express in words: Say what's on your mind.
  3. transitive verb To state as one's opinion or judgment; declare: I say let's eat out.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (34)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (7)

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Examples (50)

  • For an example of phonetic redundancy in English, say the words “see” and “she” while looking in a mirror. —  AnalogSFF,May2007
  • Everything I heard her say was about her and Cory and the band. —  VC Andrews - Broken Wings
  • He's played a massive part of my development - as all of the coaches have in one way or another - but his say has been the strongest. —  AFL Latest News and Broadband
  • But be wary of business units that want to contrast internal data with outsiders -- say, a boutique market research house that can stream information to your network. —  Latest from Computerworld
  • To say "hello" in Hindustani, say "Namaste" (Nah-MAH-stay). —  Red Hispanic - A Townhall.com user blog
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

read ·  know ·  put ·  do ·  have ·  make ·  take ·  remark ·  give ·  call ·  talk ·  find

Used in the same contextWord Family

say:   Say ·  said ·  saying ·  Saying ·  says
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English seien, from Old English secgan; see sekw-3 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English sayen, sain, seyen, seien, sein, seggen, siggen (preterit saide, seide, sayde, seyde, sede. past participle sayd, seid, seyd,) from Anglo-Saxon secgan, secgean (preterit sægde, sǣde, past participle ge-sægd, ge-sǣd) = Old Saxon seggean, seggian = OFries. seka, sega, sedsa, sidsa = Dutch zeggen = Middle Low German seggen, segen, Low German seggen = Old High German sekjan, segjan, sagēn, Middle High German G. sagen = Icelandic segja = Swedish säga = Danish sige, say, = Gothic (Moesogothic) *sagan (inferred from preceding and from Spanish sayon = OPg. saião, a bailiff, executioner, from Middle Latin sagio(n-), sago(n-), saio(n-), an officer among the Goths and West-Goths, an apparitor, bailiff, orig. ‘speaker,’ from Gothic (Moesogothic) *sagja = Old High German sago = Old Saxon sago = OFries. sega, chiefly in comp., a sayer, speaker); cf. Lithuanian sakýti, say, sakan, I say, Old Bulgarian sochiti, indicate, = Old Irish sagim, saigim, I speak, say, L. ✓ sec, in Old Latin in-sece, imperative, relate, narrate, Latin in-sectiones, narratives; prob. akin to L. signum, sign: see sign, sain. Hence ult. saw and (from Icelandic) saga. The past participle sain, formerly in occasional use, is, like sawn, sewn, etc., a conformation to orig. strong participles like lain, sown.
  2. By apheresis from assay, essay: see assay, essay.
  3. Early modern English also sey, saye, saie; from Middle English say, saie, saye, a kind of serge, from Old French saie, saye, a long-skirted coat or cassock, = Spanish sayo, a wide coat without buttons, a loose dress, saya, an upper petticoat, a tunic, = Portuguese sayo, saio, a loose upper coat, saia, a petticoat, = Italian sajo, a long coat, from Latin sagum, neuter, sagus, masculine, saga, feminine, a coarse woolen blanket or mantle, from Greek σάγος, a coarse cloak, a pack, pack-saddle; perhaps connected with σαγή, harness, armor, σάγμα, a pack-saddle, covering, large cloak, from σάττειν (✓ σαγ), pack, load: see seam. The L. and Greek forms are usually said to be of Celtic origin; but the Breton saé, a coat, is from F.
  4. Prob. a variant of sie, ult. Anglo-Saxon sīgan, sink: see sie.
 

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