Word.ws English Dictionary

forwarn

forwarn verb: to prohibit; forbid; deny (right, access to, etc.).

Verb

forwarn (third-person singular simple present forwarns, present participle forwarning, simple past and past participle forwarned)

  1. (transitive) To prohibit; forbid; deny (right, access to, etc.).
    • Oh Cousin this wicked Duoena, this Grycta suspects the good Woman who brought the Letter, and has forwarn'd her the House.1690, Thomas Shadwell, The amorous bigotte
    • I meet the Workman by Mr. Pemberton's Gate, and forewarn him from making of it; [...]1708, Samuel Sewall, Diary

Forms of forwarn

third-person singular presentforwarns
present participleforwarning
past participleforwarned
pastforwarned
alternative formforewarn

Origin of forwarn

From Middle English forwernen, from Old English forwærnan, forwoernan, forwiernan (“to hinder, prohibit, prevent, repel, refuse, repudiate, deny, withhold, oppose”), from Proto-Germanic *fra-, *fur-, *far- (“for-”) + *warnijaną (“to care, worry”), from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to close, cover, protect, defend”), equivalent to for- + warn (“to deny, refuse, forbid”).

Questions about forwarn

What does forwarn mean?
Forwarn means to prohibit; forbid; deny (right, access to, etc.).
What part of speech is forwarn?
Forwarn is a verb.
What is the past tense of forwarn?
The past tense of forwarn is forwarned.

Words near forwarn in the dictionary

  1. forwards and backwards
  2. forwards compatibility
  3. forwards compatible
  4. forwards roll
  5. forwards rolls
  6. forwarn
  7. forwarned
  8. forwarning
  9. forwarns
  10. forwaste
  11. forwasted

Source and license

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