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
Even after its massive expenditures, Microsoft recently said its cloud-computing capacity was so constrained that it had to forsake external cloud sales to run its own operations.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
Adult men should survive without requiring women to forsake our own goals and desires in order to serve them.
From Salon ● Jan. 3, 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
In pursuit of his mad crush, the hypermasculine Hudson, Randy now forsakes his beloved campy theater friends, cutting his hair and taking up sports as the buff, tough Dell.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 10, 2022
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
“Coppelia” Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet performs the classic comedic fable about a young man who forsakes his lady-love for a mad doctor’s life-size dancing doll.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 30, 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
The scripted sequel is the triumphant homecoming of those who moved on but never forsook their roots.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
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
Foster Huntington, 32, was a designer for Ralph Lauren before he forsook city life to build a treehouse and a skatepark on land in Washington State, among other adventures.
From New York Times ● Mar. 11, 2020
But then, after a single term, she became pregnant and forsook academia.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 24, 2020
“The men in green all forsook England a hundred years ago,” said I, speaking as seriously as he had done.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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
An older woman looks at him and straightaway diagnoses his problem: “Have you forsaken your soul?” she asks.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
Why have so many of us forsaken the remedial power of language?
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2023
"How can you still count yourself a knight, when you have forsaken every vow you ever swore?"
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
"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
Now, 108 years later, the latest incarnation of that league – the PAC 12 – may be fading into sports history as Washington joins several other universities in forsaking the venerable West Coast athletic collective.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 8, 2023
Finally, she is forced to choose between forsaking her sense of safety and success and risking it all to embrace her truth.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2023
“We are not forsaking you, mama,” Andrew said.
From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya
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.
