vouchsafe

[ vouch-seyf ]
See synonyms for vouchsafe on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object),vouch·safed, vouch·saf·ing.
  1. to grant or give, as by favor, graciousness, or condescension: to vouchsafe a reply to a question.

  2. to allow or permit, as by favor or graciousness: They vouchsafed his return to his own country.

verb (used without object),vouch·safed, vouch·saf·ing.
  1. to condescend; deign.

Origin of vouchsafe

1
1275–1325; Middle English phrase vouche sauf.See vouch, safe

Other words for vouchsafe

Other words from vouchsafe

  • vouch·safe·ment, noun
  • un·vouch·safed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use vouchsafe in a sentence

  • At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as a whole.

  • The people in his employ had, in fact, deserved much more praise than he had vouchsafed to them.

    Skipper Worse | Alexander Lange Kielland
  • Righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost are all vouchsafed to the believer; all of them are covenant blessings.

  • To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed.

  • Since the battle at Harenc they keep closer to their camps, though Allah that day vouchsafed them victory.

    God Wills It! | William Stearns Davis

British Dictionary definitions for vouchsafe

vouchsafe

/ (ˌvaʊtʃˈseɪf) /


verb(tr)
  1. to give or grant or condescend to give or grant: she vouchsafed no reply; he vouchsafed me no encouragement

  2. (may take a clause as object or an infinitive) to agree, promise, or permit, often graciously or condescendingly: he vouchsafed to come yesterday

  1. obsolete

    • to warrant as being safe

    • to bestow as a favour (upon)

Origin of vouchsafe

1
C14: vouchen sauf; see vouch, safe

Derived forms of vouchsafe

  • vouchsafement, noun

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