Word.ws English Dictionary

forgave

/fə(ɹ)ˈɡeɪv//fɚˈɡeɪv/

forgave is the simple past of forgive.

Meaning of forgive

Verb

forgive (third-person singular simple present forgives, present participle forgiving, simple past forgave, past participle forgiven)

  1. (transitive) To pardon (someone); to waive any negative feeling towards or desire for punishment or retribution against.
    • Please forgive me if my phone goes off - I'm expecting an urgent call from my boss.
  2. (transitive) To pardon (something); to waive any negative feeling over or retribution for.
    • Forgive these wild and wandering cries,
      ⁠Confusions of a wasted youth;
      ⁠Forgive them where they fail in truth,
      And in thy wisdom make me wise.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Prologue”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC
  3. (transitive) To waive or remit (a debt), to absolve from payment or compensation of.
    • Forgive a debt, that is, tell a debtor that a repayment of a loan is no longer needed.
  4. (intransitive) To accord forgiveness.
    • The brave know only how to forgive […] A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.a. 1768, Laurence Sterne, Joseph's History considered; - Forgiveness of Injuries (sermon)
  5. (transitive) To look past; to look beyond.
    • The music critic loves the instrumentation of the song so much that he can forgive the confusing lyrics.
  6. (transitive) To redeem; to offset the bad effects of something.
    • Okay, a good hook forgives everything.2015, Todd in the Shadows, The Top Ten Best Hit Songs of 2014

Phrases with forgave

Words that rhyme with forgave

29 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about forgave

What is forgave the simple past of?
Forgave is the simple past of forgive.
How do you pronounce forgave?
Forgave is pronounced /fə(ɹ)ˈɡeɪv/.

Words near forgave in the dictionary

  1. forgather
  2. forgathered
  3. forgathering
  4. forgatherings
  5. forgathers
  6. forgave
  7. forgave and forgot
  8. forgave my French
  9. forgavest
  10. forge
  11. forge ahead

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: forgave (page history and authors); forgive (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-forgave.ogg.

Cite this entry: “forgave.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/forgave. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.