MEANING
1. To promise to give up something or reject it firmly.
2. To make a false oath, especially through the reflexive form forswear oneself.
Use it for
Words that belong together
- forswear allegiance
- forswear revenge
On the page
He forswore revenge before he understood what the vow would cost.
She had forsworn the court, not the people who remained in it.
Nearby words
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- forswear
- Past tense
- forswore
- Past participle
- forsworn
- Present participle
- forswearing
Full tense & aspect guide
- Present
- forswear
- Present continuous
- am/is/are forswearing
- Present perfect
- have/has forsworn
- Present perfect continuous
- have/has been forswearing
- Past
- forswore
- Past continuous
- was/were forswearing
- Past perfect
- had forsworn
- Past perfect continuous
- had been forswearing
- Future
- will forswear
- Future continuous
- will be forswearing
- Future perfect
- will have forsworn
- Future perfect continuous
- will have been forswearing
Choose the auxiliary that agrees with your subject. These are constructions of one word, not separate entries.
Usage notes
Primary category: literary. Forms: forswear; forswears; forswore; forsworn; forswearing Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Third-person singular: forswears.
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