forsake
Americanverb (used with object)
-
forsakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
forsook,
past
-
forsaken,
past participle
-
forsaking
present participle
-
to quit or leave entirely; abandon; desert.
She has forsaken her country for an island in the South Pacific.
-
to give up or renounce (a habit, way of life, etc.).
- Synonyms:
- forgo, relinquish, forswear
verb
-
to abandon
-
to give up (something valued or enjoyed)
Synonym Usage
See desert 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
forsakesimple
-
forsakessimple
-
have forsakenperfect
-
has forsakenperfect
-
am forsakingprogressive
-
are forsakingprogressive
-
is forsakingprogressive
-
have been forsakingperfect progressive
-
has been forsakingperfect progressive
Past
-
forsooksimple
-
had forsakenperfect
-
was forsakingprogressive
-
were forsakingprogressive
-
had been forsakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of forsake
First recorded before 900; Middle English forsaken “to deny, reject,” Old English forsacan, equivalent to for- prefix meaning “away, off” + sacan “to dispute”; see for-
Explanation
To forsake another person is to leave them entirely, usually in a moment of need. Forsake may mean simply giving something up, such as a way of life or a homeland, for something better or more appropriate. But it is often a mean word, suggesting leaving something or someone behind when they need you to stay. One way to remember the meaning of this verb — to abandon or desert — is to remember this little sentence: "For heaven's sake, don't leave me, or heaven is lost!" Lose the heaven, and you have forsake.
Vocabulary lists containing forsake
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Everything clicked for the Beatles after the well-tailored Epstein convinced his wards to forsake Hamburg leather for matching suits in 1962.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
But Iran's governing football body has accused Australia of kidnapping the players and forcing them to forsake their home nation against their will.
From Barron's ● Mar. 14, 2026
The teaching that God will “never leave or forsake you” is found multiple times in the Bible.
From Salon ● Jan. 12, 2024
"Beautiful San Francisco, though others forsake you, we will always be your friend," Musk wrote.
From Reuters ● Jul. 30, 2023
Only when she saw the steep stairway disappearing into a bottomless black hole did her courage forsake her for a moment.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
One of these is Charles G. Koch’s 2015 book, “Good Profit,” an example of what happens when a billionaire adopts Alger’s preachy moralizing but forsakes the narrative of mobility that made him compelling.
From New York Times ● Apr. 5, 2022
Communion’s corn chowder forsakes the usual restaurant goal of consistency in favor of homestyle evolution.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 14, 2021
With his wife, a Scottish doctor treats impoverished Welsh miners for TB but, dispirited, forsakes them for London’s rich.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 10, 2020
Director X’s “Superfly” transplants the 1972 Blaxploitation classic from Harlem streets to suburban Atlanta mansions, flips Curtis Mayfield’s soul score for Future’s hip-hop soundtrack and forsakes the original’s politically charged grit for shallow music-video indulgence.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 12, 2018
There was a dignity to her grief and an acceptance of the fait accompli—the fatalism that the pilot’s wife must beget whenever her mate forsakes her for his aircraft.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Hook frequently forsook food for the cat poop he always seemed to find on our lawn and in our backyard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Later, he forsook arts cinema to become a highly bankable commercial actor, as at home in comedy as in drama.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2021
But then, after a single term, she became pregnant and forsook academia.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 24, 2020
And there’s the tale of the team member who forsook us one year to hike the John Muir trail — and was airlifted out after a medical emergency.
From New York Times ● Aug. 24, 2019
This hobby, Mahmoud insisted, was taking them away from their schoolwork, and if they forsook their education for pigeons, he would be stuck with not only the birds but two illiterate sons.
From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers
It’s a fleeting tableau, but it reveals the whole story: even the most forsaken creation reaches for connection the moment he’s given something warm to hold in his hands.
From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2025
He goes on to say they were "looking forward to a day scampering" and made the decision to leave their packs because they spent two days "lugging them up this God forsaken valley".
From BBC ● Jan. 8, 2025
In coming to America years earlier, he had forsaken his birthright: As the oldest son of five children, he was in line to inherit the pachinko business.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2024
Why have so many of us forsaken the remedial power of language?
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2023
It was dreary and wearisome: Cold clammy winter still held sway in this forsaken country.
From "The Two Towers" by J. R. R. Tolkien
"I think Cam is a one-major guy if you go to LIV because you are forsaking your competitiveness for money," Clayton told me in 2023.
From BBC ● Dec. 2, 2025
Even more than an internal feeling, truly great art produces new conversations, and this one about how to create without forsaking yourself in the process is only just beginning.
From Salon ● Mar. 12, 2025
Even so, losing her voice didn’t mean forsaking her songwriting, a talent that led to a resourceful strategy for a comeback.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
He said a schism would amount to forsaking the rich spiritual legacy of the UMC in Africa and would severe its valuable international bonds.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 13, 2024
For all I may be forsaking, he’s giving up a good deal more: the possibility of having more wives than one, for instance.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
