Pardon
intj, noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Forgiveness for an offence. countable, uncountable
"[…] a step, that could not be taken with the least hope of ever obtaining pardon from or reconciliation with any of my friends; […]"
- 2 the act of excusing a mistake or offense wordnet
- 3 An order that releases a convicted criminal without further punishment, prevents future punishment, or (in some jurisdictions) removes an offence from a person's criminal record, as if it had never been committed. countable, uncountable
"The President[…]shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment."
- 4 the formal act of liberating someone wordnet
- 5 a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense wordnet
- 1 To forgive (a person). transitive
"O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!"
- 2 grant a pardon to wordnet
- 3 To refrain from exacting as a penalty. transitive
"I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it."
- 4 accept an excuse for wordnet
- 5 To grant an official pardon for a crime. transitive
"The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence."
- 1 Often used when someone does not understand what another person says.
Example
More examples"I beg your pardon; I didn't quite catch your name."
Etymology
From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdonare, from per- + donare, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from *fir- + *geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.
Related phrases
More for "pardon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.