unsay

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ say.

Verb

unsay (third-person singular simple present unsays, present participle unsaying, simple past and past participle unsaid)

1. To withdraw, retract (something said).
   • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:

     And in the first place, you will be so good as to unsay that story about selling his head, which if true I take to be good evidence that this harpooneer is stark mad […]

2. To not have said (since this is physically impossible, usually in the subjunctive).

   I wish I could unsay that.

   There are some things I'd like to unsay... to my boss... right before he decided to fire me.

Synonyms

• (retract something said): retract, take back, unspeak; See also Thesaurus:recant

Anagrams

• anyus, yuans