Word.ws English Dictionary

forefend

forefend is the alternative spelling of forfend.

Meaning of forfend

Verb

forfend (third-person singular simple present forfends, present participle forfending, simple past and past participle forfended)

  1. (archaic) To prohibit; to forbid; to avert.
    • Clown: … You would know where Lord Anthonie is? I perceiue you. Shall I ſay he is in yond farme houſe? I deceiue you. Shall I tell you this wine is for him? the gods forfend, and ſo I end. Go fellow fighters theres a bob for ye.1594, Thomas Lodge, The Wounds of Civil War, act 4, scene 1, page 54

Forms of forefend

third-person singular presentforefends
present participleforefending
past participleforefended
pastforefended

Questions about forefend

What is forefend the alternative spelling of?
Forefend is the alternative spelling of forfend.

Words near forefend in the dictionary

  1. forefemora
  2. forefemur
  3. forefemurs
  4. forefence
  5. forefences
  6. forefend
  7. forefended
  8. forefending
  9. forefends
  10. forefield
  11. forefields

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: forefend (page history and authors); forfend (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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