Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Forgive |
ForgiveVerb1. Stop blaming or grant forgiveness. 2. Absolve from payment; "I forgive you your debt". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "forgive" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Error | Phrase: errare est humanum; mentis gratissimus error; "on the dubious waves of error tost"; "to err is human, to forgive divine"; "you lie |
Forgiveness | Verb: forgive, forgive and forget; pardon, condone, think no more of, let bygones be bygones, shake hands; forget an injury. excuse, pass over, overlook; wink at; (neglect); bear with; allow for, make allowances for; let one down easily, not be too hard upon, pocket the affront. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Forgive |
| English words defined with "forgive": Forgave, Forgiven, forgiveness, forgiving ♦ Pardon me ♦ therewithal, To use one's self ♦ unforgiving. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "forgive": Dying Sayings ♦ Epitaph ♦ forgivable loan, Forgive, blest Shade ♦ lexicographer ♦ Melibeus ♦ Saxon English ♦ Ullin. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | And now she's in love with me. And you can't forgive that (Sleuth; writing credit: Anthony Shaffer) Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing? Come back to me- and forgive everything (Moulin Rouge!; writing credit: Baz Luhrmann; Craig Pearce) Forgive me father, for I may sin tonight (Almost Famous; writing credit: Cameron Crowe) Oh, monsieur, you are a man. If somone loved you very much, so that your happiness was the only thing that she wanted in the world, but she did a bad thing to make certain of it, could you forgive her (Casablanca; writing credit: Murray Burnett; Joan Alison) Forgive each other (Little Women; writing credit: Robin Swicord. Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott.) | |
Lyrics | Please forgive me and forget it (Second Chance; performing artist: 38 Special) Baby, please try to forgive me (Shape Of My Heart; performing artist: Backstreet Boys) How can I forgive or soon forget (I Heard a Rumour; performing artist: Bananarama) Do you forgive me (Life Story; performing artist: Black Rob) If you forgive me all this (It's all coming back to me now; performing artist: Celine Dion) | |
Clever | If God didn't forgive, Heaven would be empty. (references; author: unknown) Always forgive your enemies but never forget their names. (references; author: unknown) To forgive calls upon our love. To forget calls upon our strength. (references; author: unknown) When you forgive, it takes you from the place of the victim to that of a victor. (references; author: unknown) It is not always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Forgive and Forget (1923) Shall We Forgive Her? (1917) Would You Forgive Her? (1916) Forgive or Forget (1998) | |
Song Titles | My Love Forgive Me (performing artist: Robert Goulet) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Wilkie, my son, forgive me. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Forgive me, he said manfully, I have blundered. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | God forgive me! I know it's out of season, but bang-bang!. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Tarzan. "Forgive me my ill temper, my friends," Tarzan said, "but I am worried about something you would not understand". Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Shall we forgive her. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Decimus Magnus Ausonius | Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. |
Euripides | Forgive, son; men are men; they needs must err. |
Heinrich Heine | God will forgive me, that's his business. |
| Of course God will forgive me; that's His job. | |
Johann Kaspar Lavater | The public seldom forgive twice. |
Oscar Wilde | Always forgive your enemies -- nothing annoys them so much. |
Pierre Corneille | Those who easily forgive invite offenses. |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | I cannot forgive a scholar his homeless despondency. |
Robert Leighton | Forgive thyself little, and others much. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Emma | Austen, Jane | Emma could not forgive her. |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | May God forgive us both |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | We must forgive them |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | No, by the Lord Jesus (God forgive me) nor half dead |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | But this good prince was so gracious as to forgive the poor page his whipping, upon promise that he would do so no more, without special orders |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Business | Taiwan business people and government officials will readily forgive small mistakes in Chinese etiquette if they believe the offender is honest and sincere. (references) | |
Economic History | Thailand | In its 2001 ranking of corrupt practices, Transparency International ranked Thailand along with Malawi at 61st (of a total of 91 ranks) on its corruption perception index (the higher the number, the worse the corruption) . According to some studies, a cultural propensity to forgive bribes as a normal part of doing business and to equate cash payments with finders fees or consultants' charges, coupled with the low salaries of civil servants, encourages officials to accept illegal inducements. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | EPITAPH, n. An inscription on a tomb, showing that virtues acquired by death have a retroactive effect. Following is a touching example: Here lie the bones of Parson Platt, Wise, pious, humble and all that, Who showed us life as all should live it; Let that be said -- and God forgive it! |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | Now, forgive me, but I can't resist sharing a story from those historic days. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Forgive" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 61.12% of the time. "Forgive" is used about 1,280 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 61.12% | 782 | 8,845 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 37.39% | 478 | 12,429 |
| Noun (singular) | 1.17% | 15 | 90,616 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.23% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Unclassified Items | 0.08% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,280 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "forgive": forgive me for intruding ♦ forgive me! ♦ forgive us our trespasses ♦ god forgive me! ♦ i beg you to forgive me ♦ pray to god to forgive him. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "forgive"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | vergeef (absolve, pardon), begenadig (absolve, amnesty, pardon). (various references) | |
Albanian | falni, fal (amnesty, condone, excuse, give, give away, incline, lend, pardon, pray, remit, set, switch off), shlyej (clear, discharge, expiate, liquidate, make good, make up, purge, redeem, satisfy, settle, Square, work off), ndjej (pardon, remit, sensate, sense, smack, smelt, suffer), jap fal. (various references) | |
Arabic | غفر (absolve, condone, excuse, pardon, remit), سامح (brook, pardon, stomach), عفا من دين, عفا (absolve, efface, excuse, exempt, frank, pardon), صفح (amnesty, condone, excuse, forgiveness, laminate, pardon, plate, remission). (various references) | |
Aymara | pampachaña (to forgive). (various references) | |
Basque | barkatu (excuse me). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | опрощавам (absolve, condone, loose, pardon, release, remit), прощавам (absolve, excuse, overlook, pardon). (various references) | |
Chinese | 貸 (borrow, lend on interest, loan, make excuses, pardon), ' , 原谅 (Forgave, Forgiven, forgiving), 包容 (contain, hold, pardon), 恕 , 宥 (help, profound). (various references) | |
Czech | prominout (condone, excuse, overlook, palliate, pardon, remit), odpustit (pardon, remit). (various references) | |
Danish | tilgive (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
Dutch | vergeven (absolve, pardon, poison), begenadigen (absolve, amnesty, pardon). (various references) | |
Esperanto | pardoni (pardon). (various references) | |
Faeroese | fyrigeva (absolve, acquit, pardon), umbera (absolve, excuse, pardon). (various references) | |
Farsi | عفوکردن (Absolve), امرزیدن (Absolve, Remit), بخشیدن (Bestow, Betake, Condone, Dispense, Donate, Give, Giveaway, Grant, Indulgence, Pardon, Pleasure, Portion, Privilege, Remit, Spare, Vouchsafe). (various references) | |
Finnish | antaa anteeksi (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
French | pardonner, excuser. (various references) | |
Frisian | ferjaan (absolve, pardon), begnedigje (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
German | verzeihen (absolve, condone, excuse, pardon, to condone, to pardon), vergeben (allocate, assign, award, forgiven, give away, hive off, pardon, put out, remit, serve out, throw away, to place with), erlassen (enact, impose, issue, pass, remission, remit, waive). (various references) | |
Greek | συγχωρώ (absolve, condone, excuse, pardon, remit). (various references) | |
Hebrew | למחול (absolve, palliate, pardon, remit, renounce), לח ון (amnesty, pardon), לכפר (atone, condone, expiate, pardon), לסלוח (condone, excuse, palliate, pardon). (various references) | |
Hungarian | megbocsát (condone, excuse, pardon, remit, to excuse, to let off, to pardon, to remit), elnéz (indulge, Miss, to countenance, to excuse, to pardon, to pass by). (various references) | |
Icelandic | fyrirgefa (absolve, acquit, pardon). (various references) | |
Indonesian | mengampunkan (condone), mengampuni (commute, pardon). (various references) | |
Irish | maith (good, nice, of goods, okay, pardon, well). (various references) | |
Italian | perdonare (absolve, condone, excuse, pardon, remit, spare). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 許す (to allow, to approve, to confide in, to excuse, to exempt, to forgive, to let off, to pardon, to permit, to release), 差し許す (to allow, to forgive), 捕 (a bit, be even, bicycle, calculating, capture, cheeky, child pickpocket, efficient, forgive a debt, make a fuss of, making something last, mismatched, nervy, pamper, seizure, shrewd, spoil, suffix for familiarperson, tiny, very small, weight-chain-pole weapon). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | さしゆるす (to allow, to forgive), ゆるす (to allow, to approve, to confide in, to excuse, to exempt, to forgive, to let off, to pardon, to permit, to release), ちゃら (be even, forgive a debt). (various references) | |
Korean | 용서하십시". (various references) | |
Luganda | nsonyiwa (forgive me). (various references) | |
Malay | mengampuni (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
Manx | maihaghey (absolve, amortize; amortization, condone, excuse, forgiving, let off, pardon, pardoning), mai'ghey, leih (absolution, absolve, excuse, forgiveness, forgiving, pardon, remission). (various references) | |
Norwegian | tilgi (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
Papiamen | pordoná (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | orgivefay.(various references) | |
Polish | przebaczać (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
Portuguese | perdoar (absolve, condone, excuse, forgave, indulge, let off, look over, make allowance for, pardon, remit), desculpar (apologize, condone, exculpate, excuse, forgave, instantiate, justify, make allowance for, palliate, pardon). (various references) | |
Romanian | scuza (absolve, apologize, condone, excuse, gloze, justify, pardon), ierta (absolve, acquit, allow, apologize, condone, excuse, pardon, permit, remise, remit, shrive, spare). (various references) | |
Romansch | perdunar (to forgive). (various references) | |
Russian | прощать (absolve, condone, excuse, forgave, forgiven, overlook, release, remit). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | oprostiti (absolve, condone, pardon, remit). (various references) | |
Sotho | ntshwarele (forgive me), ntshwarela (forgive me). (various references) | |
Spanish | perdonar (absolve, condone, excuse, let off, pardon, remit, spare). (various references) | |
Sranan | gi pardon (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
Swedish | förlåta (absolve, condone, excuse, pardon, remit). (various references) | |
Tswana | intshwarele (forgive me). (various references) | |
Turkish | affetmek (absolve, condone, dismiss, excuse, pardon, release, remit). (various references) | |
Turkmen | razylaюmak (agree, make an agreement, reconcile), bagyюlamak. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | не стягати, пощати. (various references) | |
Welsh | maddau (absolve, pardon, remit). (various references) | |
Zulu | -xolela (absolve, pardon). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | dimitto, dona, donabas, donabis, donabo, donans, donantes, donare, donaret, donari, donasti, donat, donata, donate, donati, donatis, donatum, donaverat, donaveris, donaverit, donavi, donavit, donet, donetis, dono, ignoramus, ignorant, ignoras, ignorat, ignoratis, ignoro, ignoscat, ignoscens, ignotae, ignotas, ignoti, ignoto, ignotos, ignotus, ignoverit, indulgeo. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | forgiefan. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | pardonner. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Matthew Chapter 6, Verse 12 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai afeV hmin ta ofeilhmata hmwn wV kai hmeiV afiemen toiV ofeiletaiV hmwn |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimisimus debitoribus nostris |
| Old English | 990 | West Saxon | & forgyf us ure geltas swa swa weforgyfeð ure geltenden. |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And foryyue to vs oure dettis, as we foryyuen to oure dettouris; and lede vs not in to temptacioun, |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And forgeve vs oure treaspases eve as we forgeve oure trespacers. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And make us free of our debts, as we have made those free who are in debt to us. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Matthew Chapter 6, Verse 12 |
| Cebuano | ug pasayloa kami sa among mga utang, maingon nga kami usab nakapasaylo, man sa mga nakautang kanamo; |
| Chinese | 免 我 們 的 債 、 如 同 我 們 免 了 人 的 債 。 |
| Croatian | I opusti nam duge naše kako i mi otpustismo dužnicima svojim! |
| Danish | og forlad os vor Skyld, som også vi forlade vore Skyldnere; |
| Dutch | En vergeef ons onze schulden, gelijk ook wij vergeven onzen schuldenaren. |
| Finnish | ja anna meille meidän velkamme anteeksi, niinkuin mekin annamme anteeksi meidän velallisillemme; |
| French | pardonne-nous nos offenses, comme nous aussi nous pardonnons ceux qui nous ont offensés; |
| German | Und vergib uns unsere Schuld, wie wir unseren Schuldigern vergeben. |
| Haitian Creole | Padonnen tout sa nou fè ki mal, menm jan nou padonnen moun ki fè nou mal. |
| Hungarian | És bocsásd meg a mi vétkeinket, miképen mi is megbocsátunk azoknak, a kik ellenünk vétkeztek; |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Ampunilah kami dari kesalahan kami, seperti kami sudah mengampuni orang yang bersalah kepada kami. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Dan ampunilah kiranya kepada kami segala kesalahan kami, seperti kami ini sudah mengampuni orang yang berkesalahan kepada kami. |
| Italian | e rimetti a noi i nostri debiti come noi li rimettiamo ai nostri debitori, |
| Latvian | Un piedod mums mûsu parâdus, kâ arî mçs piedodam saviem parâdniekiem! |
| Manx Gaelic | As leih dooin nyn loghtyn, myr ta shin leih dauesyn ta jannoo loghtyn nyn 'oi. |
| Maori | Murua o matou hara, me matou hoki e muru nei i o te hunga e hara ana ki a matou. |
| Norwegian | og forlat oss vår skyld, som vi og forlater våre skyldnere; |
| Russian | Й ТПУФЙ ОБН "ПМЗЙ ОБЫЙ, ЛБЛ Й НЩ ТПЭБЕН "ПМЦОЙЛБН ОБЫЙН; |
| Shuar | Tura winia nemasrun tsankurajna Núnismek, Aparu, winia tunaaru tumashrisha tsankurturta. |
| Swahili | Utusamehe makosa yetu, kama nasi tunavyowasamehe waliotukosea. |
| Swedish | och förlåt oss våra skulder, såsom ock vi förlåta dem oss skyldiga äro; |
| Uma | Ampungi sala' -kai, hewa kai' wo'o mpo'ampungi sala' doo hi kai'. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "forgive": forgiven, forgiveness, forgivenesses, forgiver, forgivers, forgives. (additional references) | |
Words containing "forgive": unforgiven. (additional references) | |
| |
"Forgive" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: fergive, fogive, forcive, fordie, forgeeve, Forgie, fortiva, furgive, furive, Orgiva. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "forgive" (pronounced fergi"v or fôrgi"v) |
| 3 | -g i" v | give, misgive. |
| 3 | -g i" v | give, misgive. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-f-g-i-o-r-v" | |
-2 letters: fiver, fogie, forge, giver, gofer, grief, grove, ogive, vigor, vireo, vogie. | |
-3 letters: ergo, fire, five, fore, frig, froe, frog, giro, give, goer, gore, ogre, over, reif, rife, rive, rove, vier. | |
-4 letters: ego, erg, fer, fie, fig, fir, foe, fog, for, fro, gie, gor, ire, ore, ref, reg, rei, rev, rif, rig, roe, veg. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-f-g-i-o-r-v" | |
+1 letter: forgiven, forgiver, forgives. | |
+2 letters: forgetive, forgivers, frugivore. | |
+3 letters: forgivable, frugivores, overflight, overflying, unforgiven. | |
+4 letters: forgiveness, overfatigue, overfearing, overfeeding, overfilling, overfishing, overflights, overflowing, overfunding, overruffing. | |
+5 letters: festivalgoer, griseofulvin, overfatigued, overfatigues, overfavoring, overfocusing, overstaffing, overstuffing, unforgivable, vociferating. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Quotations: Familiar 7. Quotations: Fiction 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Speeches 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
