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naysayer

/ˈneɪˌseɪər/
IPA guide

Other forms: naysayers

A naysayer is a person who always says "No." Naysayers are negative and cynical — they aren't much fun to be around.

If you respond to every invitation with, "No thanks — I wouldn't have fun anyway," and answer questions about how your day was with a list of complaints, you're a naysayer. It's your negative, pessimistic attitude that makes you a naysayer. In the 1600s a nay-say was a "refusal," from the now less common use of nay to mean "no."

Definitions of naysayer
  1. noun
    someone with an aggressively negative attitude
    see moresee less
    types:
    technophobe
    a person who dislikes or avoids new technology
    type of:
    obstructer, obstructionist, obstructor, resister, thwarter
    someone who systematically obstructs some action that others want to take
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