Waive
noun, verb ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A woman put out of the protection of the law; an outlawed woman. obsolete
- 2 A waif; a castaway. obsolete
"But vvhat a vvretched, and diſconſolate Hermitage is that Houſe, vvhich is not viſited by thee [God], and vvhat a VVayue, and Stray is that Man, that hath not thy Markes vpon him?"
- 1 To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forgo. transitive
"If you waive the right to be silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law."
- 2 To move from side to side; to sway. obsolete
- 3 lose (something) or lose the right to (something) by some error, offense, or crime wordnet
- 4 To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forgo.; To relinquish claim on a payment or fee which would otherwise be due. transitive
- 5 To stray, wander. intransitive, obsolete
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 do without or cease to hold or adhere to wordnet
- 7 To put aside, avoid. archaic
"[…] seeing in many such occasions of common life we advisedly do renounce or waive our own opinions, absolutely yielding to the direction of others"
- 8 To outlaw (someone). obsolete
- 9 To abandon, give up (someone or something). obsolete
"but she might be waived, and held as abandoned."
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"Tom does not want to waive his right to a jury trial."
Etymology
From Middle English weyven (“to avoid, renounce”), from Anglo-Norman weyver (“to abandon, allow to become a waif”), from Old French waif (“waif”), from gaiver (“to abandon”), ultimately of Scandinavian/North Germanic origin; see weyver.
From Middle English weyven (“to wave, waver”), from Old Norse veifa (“to wave, swing”) (Norwegian veiva), from Proto-Germanic *waibijaną.
From Anglo-Norman waive, probably as the past participle of weyver, as Etymology 1, above.
Related phrases
More for "waive"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.