forsake

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /fɚˈseɪk/ UK /fəˈseɪk/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to abandon or desert; to renounce

She vowed never to forsake her friends in their hour of need.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to abandon or desert; to... abandon desert renounce relinquish quit leave jilt repudiate

Opposites

keep retain support cherish embrace

Word family

Derived forms forsakenforsakerforsaking

Related forms sake

Simplified etymology

Forsake is an Old English word that originally meant “renounce” or “refuse.” Its second element is related to sake, from a Germanic base associated with an affair, legal action, or thing.

Etymology

From Old English forsacan ('to renounce, deny, decline'), combining the privative prefix for- with sacan ('to dispute, contend, accuse'). The core sacan relates to legal dispute.

forsacan Old English sacan Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# forsake

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /fɚˈseɪk/
**IPA (UK):** /fəˈseɪk/

## Meanings
1. to abandon or desert; to renounce

## Examples
- She vowed never to forsake her friends in their hour of need.

## Synonyms
- abandon
- desert
- renounce
- relinquish
- quit
- leave
- jilt
- repudiate

## Antonyms
- keep
- retain
- support
- cherish
- embrace

## Derived Forms
- forsaken
- forsaker
- forsaking

## Related Forms
- sake

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: forsacan
- Root: sacan

## Etymology
From Old English forsacan ('to renounce, deny, decline'), combining the privative prefix for- with sacan ('to dispute, contend, accuse'). The core sacan relates to legal dispute.

## AI Etymology
Forsake comes from Old English forsacan ('to renounce, deny, decline'), combining the privative prefix for- with sacan ('to dispute, contend, accuse'). The core sacan relates to legal dispute. The development is chiefly inherited within English and its older relatives, with the later form continuing material already present in the language's ancestry. In present use, it is used as a verb meaning "to abandon or desert; to renounce", so the historical material remains connected with the current sense rather than standing as bare ancestry. The wider English family includes derivatives such as forsaken, forsaker, and forsaking and related forms such as sake, showing how the same historical material continues to organize neighboring vocabulary. The named historical forms include Old English forsacan and Old English sacan, keeping the history tied to concrete forms rather than a loose resemblance.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

markdown