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Forfeit vs Waive - What's the difference?

forfeit | waive |

As nouns the difference between forfeit and waive

is that forfeit is a penalty for or consequence of a misdemeanor while waive is (obsolete|legal) a woman put out of the protection of the law; an outlawed woman or waive can be .

As verbs the difference between forfeit and waive

is that forfeit is to suffer the loss of something by wrongdoing or non-compliance while waive is (obsolete) to outlaw (someone) or waive can be (obsolete) to move from side to side; to sway.

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

    waive

    English

    Etymology 1

    (etyl) weyven, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (waiv)
  • (obsolete) To outlaw (someone).
  • (obsolete) To abandon, give up (someone or something).
  • *
  • (legal) To relinquish (a right etc.); to give up claim to; to forego.
  • If you waive the right to be silent, anything you say can be used against you in a court of law.
  • *
  • To put aside, avoid.
  • *
  • Derived terms
    * waivable

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) weyven, from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (waiv)
  • (obsolete) To move from side to side; to sway.
  • (obsolete) To stray, wander.
  • * c. 1390 , (Geoffrey Chaucer), "The Merchant's Tale", Canterbury Tales :
  • ye been so ful of sapience / That yow ne liketh, for youre heighe prudence, / To weyven fro the word of Salomon.

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) waive, probably as the past participle of (weyver), as Etymology 1, above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete, legal) A woman put out of the protection of the law; an outlawed woman.
  • (obsolete) A waif; a castaway.
  • (John Donne)

    Etymology 4

    Variant forms.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • * 1624 , (John Donne), Devotions upon Emergent Occasions :
  • I know, O Lord, the ordinary discomfort that accompanies that phrase, that the house is visited, and that thy works, and thy tokens are upon the patient; but what a wretched, and disconsolate hermitage is that house, which is not visited by thee, and what a waive and stray is that man, that hath not thy marks upon him?