forgive
verb
Simple meaning
To pardon; to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
fergivSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
fɚˈɡɪv
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.
transitive
To waive or remit (a debt), to absolve from payment or compensation of.
Stop blaming or grant forgiveness
transitive
To look past; to look beyond.
intransitive
To accord forgiveness.
transitive
To redeem; to offset the bad effects of something.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.
Used this way, forgive is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Inclined or able to forgive and show mercy.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive.
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What Does It Mean Here?
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.