| / English Dictionary |
SAYING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A word or phrase that particular people use in particular situations
Example:
pardon the expression
Synonyms:
expression; locution; saying
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("saying" is a kind of...):
language; oral communication; speech; speech communication; spoken communication; spoken language; voice communication ((language) communication by word of mouth)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "saying"):
sumpsimus (a correct expression that takes the place of a popular but incorrect expression)
agrapha (sayings of Jesus not recorded in the canonical Gospels)
idiom; idiomatic expression; phrasal idiom; phrase; set phrase (an expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up)
adage; byword; proverb; saw (a condensed but memorable saying embodying some important fact of experience that is taken as true by many people)
epigram; quip (a witty saying)
axiom; maxim (a saying that is widely accepted on its own merits)
catchword; motto; shibboleth; slogan (a favorite saying of a sect or political group)
southernism (a locution or pronunciation peculiar to the southern United States)
anatomical; anatomical reference (an expression that relates to anatomy)
tongue twister (an expression that is difficult to articulate clearly)
shucks (an expression of disappointment or irritation)
dysphemism (an offensive or disparaging expression that is substituted for an inoffensive one)
euphemism (an inoffensive or indirect expression that is substituted for one that is considered offensive or too harsh)
ambiguity (an expression whose meaning cannot be determined from its context)
advice and consent (a legal expression in the United States Constitution that allows the Senate to constrain the President's powers of appointment and treaty-making)
calque; calque formation; loan translation (an expression introduced into one language by translating it from another language)
logion (a saying of Jesus that is regarded as authentic although it is not recorded in the Gospels)
Beatitude (one of the eight sayings of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount; in Latin each saying begins with 'beatus' (blessed))
Derivation:
say (recite or repeat a fixed text)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb say
Context examples:
I finished by saying, “I'll give you Steerforth! God bless him! Hurrah!”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Then he took over the care of the case himself, saying that he would watch this night and the next and would send me word when to come.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
Old Ebbits shook his head, saying: Nay, there has been no great sickness.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Then he tied them up, saying, with the happy look Jo liked to see, "Please give these to your mother, and tell her I like the medicine she sent me very much."
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Summerlee rejoined, however, with a sour smile, by saying that he understood that Millbank Prison had been pulled down.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
It was evident to me that she was saying what was false.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
That is a hard saying, Mr. Holmes.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
What has she been saying to you?
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
"It is not strange," an Indian was saying.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Saying this, he suddenly quitted me, fearful, perhaps, of any change in my sentiments.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
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