forgiveness

What it means

1. uncountableusuallyThe action of forgiving.

   He begged for forgiveness after being caught stealing from the shop.

   5 more examples

   At the end of a week, she could bear the suspense no longer, and so went humbly to her old home and sought forgiveness.

   1850, T. S. Arthur, “Happy on a Little”, in Sketches of Life and Character, Philadelphia: J. W. Bradley, →OCLC, page 89

   It was not a war party, so it surely was men who came to ask for peace and forgiveness.

   1907, Albert Ernest Jenks, Ba-Long-Long, The Igorot Boy, page 108

   But Oh! what anguish can more poignant be Than of the heart which vainly longs to plead Forgiveness from the dead? Shall the dead heed?

   1913 January 28, G. E. Reece, “"The Bookman" Prize Competitions § Results of Competitions for December § Forgive!”, in The Bookman, volume XLIII, number 256

   Some devout Christians are among the most fervent advocates of the death penalty, contradicting Jesus Christ and misinterpreting Holy Scriptures and numerous examples of mercy. We remember God’s forgiveness of Cain, who killed Abel, and the adulterer King David, who arranged the killing of Uriah, the husband of Bathsheba, his lover.

   2014, Jimmy Carter, “Full Prisons and Legal Killing”, in A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 39

   The Basque terrorist group Eta, which killed more than 800 people during its four-decade armed campaign, has apologised for the suffering it caused and asked for the forgiveness of victims and their families as it prepares to dissolve.

   2018 April 20, Sam Jones, “'We are truly sorry': Eta apologises for four decades of deadly violence”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2019

   Synonyms: remission

2. uncountableusuallyA readiness to forgive.

   The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.

   1931, Mahatma Gandhi, Young India

   1 more example

   If thou, Lord, shouldest marke iniquities: O Lord, who shal stand? But there is forgiuenesse with thee: that thou mayest be feared.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 130:3–4

   Synonyms: mercy

In a sentence

He begged for forgiveness after being caught stealing from the shop.

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Indo-European*per-der.?
2. Proto-Indo-European*pér
3. Proto-Indo-European*pró
4. Proto-Indo-European*pro-
5. Proto-Germanic*fra-
6. Proto-Indo-European*gʰebʰ-
7. Proto-Germanic*gebaną
8. Late Latinperdōnō
9. Proto-Germanic*fragebaną
10. Old Englishforġiefan
11. Old Englishforġiefnes
12. Middle Englishforgiveness
13. Englishforgiveness

From Middle English forgiveness, forgifnes, from Old English forġiefnes. By surface analysis, forgive + -ness. Cognate with Dutch vergiffenis.