for ‧ give S3 /fəˈɡɪv $ fər-/ BrE AmE verb ( past tense forgave /-ˈɡeɪv/, past participle forgiven /-ˈɡɪv ə n/) [intransitive and transitive]
[ Word Family: verb : ↑ forgive ; noun : ↑ forgiveness ; adverb : ↑ unforgivably ; adjective : ↑ forgiving ≠ ↑ unforgiving ]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: forgifan ]
1 . to stop being angry with someone and stop blaming them, although they have done something wrong
forgive somebody for (doing) something
I’ve tried to forgive him for what he said.
He never forgave her for walking out on him.
forgive myself/yourself etc
If anything happened to the kids I’d never forgive myself.
you’re forgiven spoken (=used to tell someone that you are not angry with them)
‘I’m really sorry.’ ‘It’s okay, you’re forgiven.’
forgive somebody something
God forgives us our sins.
He didn’t look the sort of man to forgive and forget (=forgive someone and no longer think about it) .
2 . forgive me spoken used when you are going to say or do something that might seem rude or offensive and you want it to seem more polite:
Forgive me, but I don’t think that is relevant.
forgive me for asking/saying etc something (also forgive my asking/saying etc)
Forgive me for saying so, but that’s nonsense.
Forgive my phoning you so late.
3 . somebody can be forgiven for thinking/believing/feeling etc something used to say that it is easy to understand why someone might think or do something:
You could be forgiven for thinking football is a religion here.
4 . forgive a debt/loan formal if a country or organization forgives a debt, it says that the money does not have to be paid back SYN write off :
Saudi Arabia’s decision to forgive the debt owed by the poorest Islamic countries