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Forfeit vs Resign - What's the difference?

forfeit | resign |

As verbs the difference between forfeit and resign

is that forfeit is to suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance while resign is to give up or hand over (something to someone); to relinquish ownership of or resign can be (proscribed).

As a noun forfeit

is a penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor.

As an adjective forfeit

is lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.

forfeit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor.
  • That he our deadly forfeit should release'' (John Milton, ''On the Morning of Christ's Nativity , 1629)
  • A thing forfeited; that which is taken from somebody in requital of a misdeed committed; that which is lost, or the right to which is alienated, by a crime, breach of contract, etc.
  • He who murders pays the forfeit of his own life.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Thy slanders I forgive; and therewithal / Remit thy other forfeits .
  • Something deposited and redeemable by a sportive fine as part of a game.
  • * Goldsmith
  • Country dances and forfeits shortened the rest of the day.
  • (obsolete, rare) Injury; wrong; mischief.
  • * Ld. Berners
  • to seek arms upon people and country that never did us any forfeit

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance
  • He forfeited his last chance of an early release from jail by repeatedly attacking another inmate.
  • To lose a contest, game, match, or other form of competition by voluntary withdrawal, by failing to attend or participate, or by violation of the rules
  • Because only nine players were present, the football team was forced to forfeit the game.
  • To be guilty of a misdeed; to be criminal; to transgress.
  • To fail to keep an obligation.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I will have the heart of him if he forfeit .

    Usage notes

    * Very rarely, forfeit is used as the past tense form and past participle (i.e., the past tense forms and the present tense form are homographs).

    Synonyms

    * (lose a contest) capitulate, surrender * (voluntarily give up) forgo, withgo

    Derived terms

    * forfeits * nonforfeited * nonforfeiting * nonforfeiture

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Lost or alienated for an offense or crime; liable to penal seizure.
  • * Shakespeare
  • thy wealth being forfeit to the state
  • * Emerson
  • to tread the forfeit paradise
    English irregular verbs English verbs with base form identical to past participle English words not following the I before E except after C rule

    resign

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) reisgner, (etyl) resigner, and its source, (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To give up or hand over (something to someone); to relinquish ownership of.
  • * , I.39:
  • And if the perfection of well-speaking might bring any glorie sutable unto a great personage, Scipio'' and ''Lelius would never have resigned the honour of their Comedies.
  • (transitive, or, intransitive) To quit (a job or position).
  • I am resigning in protest of the unfair treatment of our employees.
    He resigned the crown to follow his heart.
  • (transitive, or, intransitive) To submit passively; to give up as hopeless or inevitable.
  • After fighting for so long, she finally resigned to her death.
    He had no choice but to resign the game and let his opponent become the champion.
  • * 1996 , Robin Buss, The Count of Monte Cristo'', translation of, edition, ISBN 0140449264, page 394 [http://books.google.com/books?id=QAa5l_8DNbcC&pg=PA394&dq=fate]:
  • Here is a man who was resigned' to his fate, who was walking to the scaffold and about to die like a coward, that's true, but at least he was about to die without resisting and without recrimination. Do you know what gave him that much strength? Do you know what consoled him? Do you know what ' resigned him to his fate?
    Synonyms
    * quit
    Derived terms
    * resignation * resign oneself

    Etymology 2

    (re-) + (sign)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (proscribed)
  • Usage notes

    The spelling without the hyphen results in a heteronym and is usually avoided.

    Anagrams

    * reigns * signer * singer English contranyms English heteronyms