FORGIVE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Forgive

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/fərgˈɪv/ /fɔrgˈɪv/ Listen

verb

Forgive v. t. (past forgave; past part. forgiven; pres. part. forgiving)

1.

To give wholly; to make over without reservation; to resign. "To them that list the world's gay shows I leave, And to great ones such folly do forgive."

2.

To give up resentment or claim to requital on account of (an offense or wrong); to remit the penalty of; to pardon; said in reference to the act forgiven. "And their sins should be forgiven them." "He forgive injures so readily that he might be said to invite them."

3.

To cease to feel resentment against, on account of wrong committed; to give up claim to requital from or retribution upon (an offender); to absolve; to pardon; said of the person offending. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." "I as free forgive you, as I would be fforgiven." Note: Sometimes both the person and the offense follow as objects of the verb, sometimes one and sometimes the other being the indirect object. "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." "Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee."

Synonyms: See excuse.

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Etymology of 'Forgive'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Forgive" Quotes from Famous Books

... child!' He threw it a pice. 'Sweetmeats are always sweet.' And as the little figure capered away into the sunshine: 'They grow up and become men. Holy One, I grieve that I slept in the midst of thy preaching. Forgive me.' ...

— Kim • Rudyard Kipling

... the girl know what I enjoy, and what I don't enjoy! Lady Horsingham will be as stiff as the poker, and about as communicative. Cousin Amelia will look at everything I've got on, and say the most disagreeable things she can think of, because she never can forgive me for being born two years later than herself. I shall know very few people, and those I do know I shall not like. I shall have a headache before I have been half an hour in the room. If I dance I shall be hot, and if I don't dance I shall be bored. Enjoy my ball, indeed! ...

— Kate Coventry - An Autobiography • G. J. Whyte-Melville

... I did not think you would forgive me, I should feel, now that I have once allowed my mind to rest upon my conduct to you, as if I could never hold up my head again. After much occupation of thought and feeling with other things, a season of silence has come, and my sins look me in the ...

— David Elginbrod • George MacDonald

... him, because when he had seen him at Tyniec he had his helmet on, and after that he had spoken to Macko only once, and that in the evening, when Macko had begged him to forgive Zbyszko. ...

— The Knights of the Cross • Henryk Sienkiewicz

... right or wrong, I jumped to the conclusion, that the English ambassador was a straight-forward, good fellow at the bottom, and one very likely to badger the fidgetty premier, by his steady determination to do what was right. I thought M. de Damas, too, looked like an honest man. God forgive me, if I do injustice ...

— Recollections of Europe • J. Fenimore Cooper

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