Word.ws English Dictionary

say the word

say the word verb: to indicate that it is time to perform an action; to give permission.

Verb

say the word (third-person singular simple present says the word, present participle saying the word, simple past and past participle said the word)

  1. (idiomatic) To indicate that it is time to perform an action; to give permission.
    • "I wish—When shall we have courage to marry, Jude?"
      "Whenever you have it, I think I shall. It remains with you entirely, dear. Only say the word, and it's done."1895, Thomas Hardy, chapter 3, in Jude the Obscure
    • "A primitive fellow. I'll kick him out if you say the word, my dear."1921, Edgar Wallace, chapter 6, in The Black
    Synonyms:
    give the word

Examples of say the word in a sentence

  • "[I]f there's anything I can do to help you make the grade, just say the word."2003 May 31, Brian Glanville, “Trevor Ford: Welsh soccer star who gave and took hard knocks”, in Guardian, retrieved 29 Aug 2020:
  • Just say the word, and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down."2017 December 9, Tyler Kepner, “The Yankees Will Always Be the Yankees, to the Delight of Only Some”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 Aug...

Synonyms of say the word

Forms of say the word

third-person singular presentsays the word
present participlesaying the word
past participlesaid the word
pastsaid the word

Questions about say the word

What does say the word mean?
Say the word means to indicate that it is time to perform an action; to give permission.
How do you use say the word in a sentence?
"[I]f there's anything I can do to help you make the grade, just say the word."
What part of speech is say the word?
Say the word is a verb.
What is the past tense of say the word?
The past tense of say the word is said the word.

Words near say the word in the dictionary

  1. Say syndrome
  2. say that
  3. say that again
  4. say the quiet part loud
  5. say the quiet part out loud
  6. say the word
  7. say to oneself
  8. say uncle
  9. say wha
  10. say what
  11. say what you like

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: say the word (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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