unsaying

verb

present participle of unsay
as in renouncing
to solemnly or formally reject or go back on (as something formerly adhered to) the witness tried to unsay the very testimony that he had given a few days earlier

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for unsaying
  1. renouncing
  2. withdrawing
  3. retracting
  4. denying
  5. contradicting
  6. taking back
  7. repealing
Verb
  • Eric Lai, a senior fellow with the Georgetown Center for Asian Law, said every actor in Hong Kong civil society who assumed that renouncing violence and working within the law would be fine has to revise that assumption.
    — Kanis Leung, Los Angeles Times, 21 Aug. 2026
  • That starts with renouncing the use of military intervention as a first resort and ending the practice of diplomacy by airstrike.
    — MARC LYNCH, Foreign Affairs, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of renouncing
Verb
  • Van Aert’s victory extends his lead over Brennan to 65 points in the uncompetitive green jersey contest, with his only realistic rival, Lidl-Trek’s Mads Pedersen, withdrawing from the race earlier this week.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026
  • The council eventually agreed in May to delay implementation of the minimum wage increase by 18 months in exchange for the business coalition withdrawing the gross receipts measure.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 1 Sep. 2026
Definition of withdrawing
Verb
  • Vivo and Oppo phones have relied on various gimmicks, like smaller gimbals and pop-out lenses, to improve camera performance, though not to the extent of a physically retracting gimbal.
    — Florence Ion, PC Magazine, 12 Aug. 2026
  • The remote control has mixed reviews, with this seemingly retracting from its otherwise glowing reviews.
    — Tantse Walter, Space.com, 26 June 2026
Definition of retracting
Verb
  • The film follows a daughter trying to accompany her mother through her final stage, navigating the challenge of remaining close without denying the loss or imposing a particular way of experiencing it.
    — Anna Marie de la Fuente, Variety, 2 Sep. 2026
  • Ridley Scott’s representatives are denying the recent report that the director blamed his Gladiator II star Paul Mescal for the film’s underwhelming box office numbers.
    — Tommy McArdle, PEOPLE, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of denying
Verb
  • Prosecutors say Castro briefly struggled with Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, then fired through a front door into an occupied home, hitting him in the leg, contradicting earlier federal accounts.
    — Valerie Gonzalez, Los Angeles Times, 4 Sep. 2026
  • Finally, leaders who have inconsistent messaging—giving one instruction today and contradicting it tomorrow—create confusion, frustration and uncertainty.
    — Don Weber, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of contradicting
Verb
  • Rhaenyra shows no affection whatsoever to her heir, Joffrey, and only shows signs of any warmth at all when speaking with Daemon about taking back Tumbleton from Lord Ormund and the Hightowers.
    — Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 10 Aug. 2026
  • A week after setting an all-time high in Nielsen’s streaming ratings, Love Island USA nearly matched it while taking back the top overall ranking for the third time this summer.
    — Rick Porter, HollywoodReporter, 30 July 2026
Definition of taking back
Verb
  • The Council earlier this month approved an ordinance repealing a July measure that directed the city manager to assess living conditions at the apartments and make emergency repairs.
    — Dylan Lysen, Kansas City Star, 26 Aug. 2026
  • That includes prohibiting the construction of AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods, reducing the impacts of data centers on local communities, and repealing sales tax exemptions and other incentives.
    — Jack Fink, CBS News, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of repealing
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

unsayable
unsaying
unsays
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Cite this Entry

“Unsaying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/unsaying. Accessed 9 Sep. 2026.

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