forsake means to abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something). It carries an Arena rating of 1676, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, forsake ranks #579 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,199 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #1,324 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #1,503 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
forsake is pronounced /fɔːˈseɪk/.
Why “forsake” is a great word
To abandon or renounce someone or something, especially in a way considered disloyal or neglectful of a duty. From Middle English *forsaken*, from Old English *forsacan* ("to oppose, renounce, refuse"), from Proto-West Germanic *frasakan* ("to forsake, renounce"). By surface analysis, *for-* (intensive or prohibitive prefix) + *sacan* ("to quarrel, dispute"). Unlike "abandon," which can be neutral, or "leave," which is general, to forsake is to commit a specific betrayal of trust, duty, or affection. It is the soldier deserting his post under fire, the vow dissolved in silence, the hand withdrawn from a dying friend's grip—a conscious severing of a bond that leaves behind the quiet terror of a debt unpaid.
Etymology
From Middle English forsaken (“to abandon, desert, repudiate, withdraw allegiance from”), from Old English forsacan (“to oppose; to give up, renounce; to decline, refuse”), from Proto-West Germanic *frasakan (“to forsake, renounce”). By surface analysis, for- + sake. Cognates include Saterland Frisian ferseeke (“to deny, refuse”), West Frisian fersaakje, Dutch verzaken (“to renounce, forsake”), Middle High German versachen (“to deny”), Danish forsage (“to give up”), Swedish försaka (“to be without, give up”), Norwegian forsake (“to give up, renounce”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌺𐌰𐌽 (sakan, “to quarrel; to rebuke”), .
verb
- To abandon, to give up, to leave (permanently), to renounce (someone or something).
- To decline or refuse (something offered).
- To avoid or shun (someone or something).
- To cause disappointment to; to be insufficient for (someone or something).
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.