Forbear
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 Alternative spelling of forebear. alt-of, alternative
"[1906] 2004, Memoirs of the Lord of Joinville, Ethel Wedgwood tr. Sirs, I am quite sure that the King of England's forbears rightly and justly lost the conquered lands that I hold …"
- 2 a person from whom you are descended wordnet
- 1 To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from. transitive
"Mr. Sheriff, I desire that this manacling may be forborn: if you please to clap a guard of a hundred men upon us, I shall pay for it. This is not only a disgrace to me, but in general to all soldiers; which doth more trouble me than the loss of my life."
- 2 resist doing something wordnet
- 3 To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay. intransitive
"Por[tia]. I pray you tarrie, pauſe a day or two Before you hazard, for in chooſing wrong I looſe your companie ; therefore forbeare a while, /[...]"
- 4 refrain from doing wordnet
- 5 To refuse; to decline; to withsay; to unheed. intransitive
"And thou ſhalt ſpeake my words vnto them, whether they will heare or whether they will forbeare, for they are moſt rebellious."
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- 6 To control oneself when provoked. intransitive
"The kindest and the happiest pair Will find occasion to forbear."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"I cannot forbear expressing my doubts."
Etymology
From Middle English forberen, from Old English forberan (“to forbear, abstain from, refrain; suffer, endure, tolerate, humor; restrain; do without”), from Proto-Germanic *fraberaną (“to hold back, endure”); equivalent to for- + bear. Cognate with Old Frisian forbera (“to forfeit”), Middle High German verbërn (“to have not; abstain; refrain from; avoid”) (Cimbrian forbèeran), Gothic 𐍆𐍂𐌰𐌱𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌰𐌽 (frabairan, “to endure”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.