forfend
to defend, secure, or protect.
to fend off, avert, or prevent.
Archaic. forbid.
Origin of forfend
1- Also forefend [fawr-fend, fohr-] /fɔrˈfɛnd, foʊr-/ .
Words Nearby forfend
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use forfend in a sentence
Heaven forfend that change in any shape, whether of embellishment or of decay, should fall upon that cottage!
God forfend that she should come home to-night and find you here!
The Black Douglas | S. R. CrockettUnless they actually set fire to the steeple, which Heaven forfend, we can laugh at them.
The Young Cavalier | Percy F. WestermanIs it not rather the blind brute instinct of self-protection, forfend what may?
Canada: the Empire of the North | Agnes C. LautHeaven forfend me from Lamarck nonsense of a "tendency to progression," "adaptations from the slow willing of animals," etc.!
The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume I (of II) | Charles Darwin
British Dictionary definitions for forfend
forefend
/ (fɔːˈfɛnd) /
US to protect or secure
obsolete to prohibit or prevent
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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