forgiving
Americanadjective
-
disposed to forgive; indicating forgiveness.
a forgiving soul; a forgiving smile.
-
tolerant.
The mountain is not forgiving of inexperienced climbers.
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of forgiving
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.
Many feature lower credit limits, educational tools and approval standards that are more forgiving than those for traditional cards.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 9, 2026
The next 100 days may be less forgiving.
From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026
Overindebted railroad builders and heavily mortgaged farmers demanded a less rigorous, more forgiving silver unit, and debate raged between the adherents of “soft” and “hard” money—between silver and gold, inflation and solidity.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
Rose will play with McLaren irons and is likely to use the more forgiving game-improver versions at the long end of the bag and blades for the rest.
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
For the rest of her life she imagined her cousins worked for kind and generous masters up north, engaged in more forgiving trades than her own, weaving or spinning, nothing in the fields.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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.
