FORSAKE (forsaken, forsook)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: forsaken    , forsook   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does forsake mean? 

• FORSAKE (verb)
  The verb FORSAKE has 1 sense:

1. leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch

  Familiarity information: FORSAKE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FORSAKE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they forsake    ... he / she / it forsakes   
Past simple: forsook   
Past participle: forsaken   
-ing form: forsaking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

abandon; desert; desolate; forsake

Context example:

The mother deserted her children

Hypernyms (to "forsake" is one way to...):

leave (go and leave behind, either intentionally or by neglect or forgetfulness)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "forsake"):

expose (abandon by leaving out in the open air)

walk out (leave suddenly, often as an expression of disapproval)

ditch (forsake)

maroon; strand (leave stranded or isolated with little hope of rescue)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Sam cannot forsake Sue

Derivation:

forsaking (the act of forsaking)

 Context examples 

Unsafe as was his present position, he was loath to forsake it for the more unsafe position on the halyards.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

In the winter the cariboo forsook their accustomed track.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Saturn will demand you be realistic and focus strongly on the tasks at hand, forsaking other activities for the lion’s share of the month.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Then he went back and said to Gretel: “Be comforted, dear little sister, and sleep in peace, God will not forsake us,” and he lay down again in his bed.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“I trust that you have not come here to-day to try to draw my husband back into the ways that he has forsaken.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This city had remained faithful to him, after the whole nation had forsaken his cause to join the standard of Parliament and liberty.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

He would feel himself forsaken; his love rejected: he would suffer; perhaps grow desperate.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Jimmy, the plumber, he met there, in the company of a tall, blond girl who promptly forsook him for Martin.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Long miles of road then opened out before my mind; and, toiling on, I saw a ragged way-worn boy, forsaken and neglected, who should come to call even the heart now beating against mine, his own.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Sleep forsook her eyes, meals stood untasted, day and night were all too short to enjoy the happiness which blessed her only at such times, and made these hours worth living, even if they bore no other fruit.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)