Forsake Meaning

/fɔːˈseɪk/
C1

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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verbTo abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something).

verbTo decline or refuse (something offered).

I can't forsake a friend in trouble.
He could not forsake his friend in trouble.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
The loyal dog would never ____ his owner, even when hungry.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He promised that he would never ____ his principles, even in the face of intense public pressure.

From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from”), from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasakan (“to forsake, renounce”). By surface analysis, for- + sake. Cognates include Saterland Frisian ferseeke (“to deny, refuse”), West Frisian fersaakje, Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”), Middle High German versachen (“to deny”), Danish forsage (“to give up”), Swedish försaka (“to be without, give up”), Norwegian forsake (“to give up, renounce”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (sakan, “to quarrel; to rebuke”), .

"Doeſt thou forſake the deuill and all his workes? / Aunſwere. I forſake them." — 1549 March 7, Thomas Cranmer [et al.], compilers, “Of the Administracion of Publyke Baptisme to be Used in the Churche”, in The Booke of the Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacramentes, […], London: […] Edowardi Whitchurche […], →OCLC:
"Such hazard now muſt doting Tarqvin make, / Pawning his honor to obtaine his luſt, / And for himſelfe, himſelfe he muſt forſake." — 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:
"Thou lou'd the Church once, and didſt God adore, / But now forſakest him, thou lou'd before." — 1611, Richard Brathwayte [i.e., Richard Brathwait], “The Third Sonet”, in The Golden Fleece. […], London: […] W[illiam] S[tansby] for Christopher Purfett […], →OCLC:
"And about the ninth houre, Jeſus cried with a loud voyce, ſaying, Eli, Eli, lamaſabachthani, that is to ſay, My God, my God, why haſt thou forſaken mee?" — 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 27:46, column 1:
"He is forſaken of the world, his kinfolk, friends, and acquaintance; his owne members and ſenſes faile him; yea, hee forſaketh (as it were) himſelfe, in that the very vſe of reaſon forſaketh him." — 1617, John Moore, “Of the Miserable Life, and Wretched State of Man, by the Meanes of Sinne and Death”, in A Mappe of Mans Mortalitie. […], […] T[homas] S[nodham] for George Edvvards, […], →OCLC, 1st book (What Death is in It Selfe), page 44:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
The loyal dog would never ____ his owner, even when hungry.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
He promised that he would never ____ his principles, even in the face of intense public pressure.

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