say-so

Questions about say-so

What does say-so mean?

say-so means "one chap's arbitrary assertion". That is the primary sense; the word has 3 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in say-so?

say-so has 2 syllables: say--so. The stress falls on "say-".

What is another word for say-so?

Close synonyms include pronouncement, dictum, authority, authorization, authorisation. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is say-so a common word?

say-so is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.