Forgiveness

//fəˈɡɪvnəs// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The action of forgiving. uncountable, usually

    "He begged for forgiveness after being caught stealing from the shop."

  2. 2
    the act of excusing a mistake or offense wordnet
  3. 3
    A readiness to forgive. uncountable, usually

    "If thou, Lord, shouldest marke iniquities: O Lord, who shal stand? But there is forgiuenesse with thee: that thou mayest be feared."

  4. 4
    compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
mercyremissionabsentmindednessabsolutionacquittalacquittance

Example

More examples

"I asked forgiveness for the mistake I made."

Etymology

From Middle English forgiveness, forgifnes, from Old English forġiefnes, equivalent to forgive + -ness. Cognate with Dutch vergiffenis.

Related phrases

it's better to ask forgiveness than permissionit's easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.