forsake

CEFRC1

/fɔːˈseɪk/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To leave someone or something completely and permanently.

  2. 02

    verb

    Extra detail

    To avoid or shun (someone or something).

Examples

  • He could not forsake his friend in trouble.

  • I can't forsake a friend in trouble.

At a glance

Sits at C1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /fə-/

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. To decline or refuse (something offered).

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

  3. To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient for (someone or something).

More examples

In context

  • Doeſt thou forſake the deuill and all his workes? / Aunſwere. I forſake them.

  • Such hazard now muſt doting Tarqvin make, / Pawning his honor to obtaine his luſt, / And for himſelfe, himſelfe he muſt forſake.

  • Thou lou'd the Church once, and didſt God adore, / But now forſakest him, thou lou'd before.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The loyal dog would never blank his owner, even when hungry.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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”), .