waive

[weyv]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR waive ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), waived, waiv·ing.

to refrain from claiming or insisting on; give up; forgo: to waive one's right; to waive one's rank; to waive honors.

Law. to relinquish (a known right, interest, etc.) intentionally.

to put aside for the time; defer; postpone; dispense with: to waive formalities.

to put aside or dismiss from consideration or discussion: waiving my attempts to explain.

Origin of waive

1250–1300; Middle English weyven < Anglo-French weyver to make a waif (of someone) by forsaking or outlawing (him or her)

Related formsun·waived, adjective

Can be confusedwaive wave

Synonyms for waive

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR waive ON THESAURUS.COM

1. resign, renounce, surrender, remit.

Antonyms for waive

1. demand.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for waive

Contemporary Examples of waive

Francis opted to waive the requisite second miracle for John XXIII usually needed for non-martyrs to reach sainthood.
Popes, Saints, Miracles, Weird Relics and Odd Omens Converge on Rome
Barbie Latza Nadeau
April 26, 2014
Most of the defendants had been convinced to waive their right to a lawyer.
‘Kids for Cash’: Crooked Judge, Damaged Teens, and the Perils of Zero Tolerance
Ronald K. Fried
February 25, 2014
But now Yanukovych has signaled that he refuses to waive even a bit of his power.
Ukraine’s Bloody Crackdown Enters Its Third Day
Oleg Shynkarenko
February 19, 2014
Hastert stopped short of saying Boehner should waive the Hastert Rule.
Denny Hastert Disses the ‘Hastert Rule’: It ‘Never Really Existed’
Eleanor Clift
October 3, 2013
That vote will surely go along party lines, meaning the committee will decide that she did waive them, but so what?
The Continuing Fizzle of the IRS Scandal
Michael Tomasky
June 27, 2013

Historical Examples of waive

The seizing of the urea by the kidney cell is a vital phenomenon which we must waive for the moment.
The Story of the Living Machine
H. W. Conn
He had a right to doubt there, which he was willing to waive.
The Whirligig of Time
Wayland Wells Williams
It remains for us, therefore, to waive the salutation in this instance.
The Prince of India, Volume I
Lew. Wallace
If you would like to sign it, you can; if you want to waive signing it, you can also.
Warren Commission (6 of 26): Hearings Vol. VI (of 15)
The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy
Said another: "The waive note is good for twenty years and when you sign one you must either pay out or die out."
A Social History of The American Negro
Benjamin Brawley

British Dictionary definitions for waive

waive

verb (tr)

to set aside or relinquishto waive one's right to something

to refrain from enforcing (a claim) or applying (a law, penalty, etc)

to defer

Word Origin for waive

C13: from Old Northern French weyver, from waif abandoned; see waif

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

Word Origin and History for waive

c.1300, from Anglo-French weyver "to abandon, waive," Old French weyver, guever "to abandon, give back," probably from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse veifa "to swing about," from Proto-Germanic *waibijanan (see waif). In Middle English legal language, used of rights, goods, or women. Related: Waived; waiving.