Library / English Dictionary

FORFEIT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of losing or surrendering something as a penalty for a mistake or fault or failure to perform etc.

Synonyms:

forfeit; forfeiture; sacrifice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("forfeit" is a kind of...):

act; deed; human action; human activity (something that people do or cause to happen)

Derivation:

forfeit (lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A penalty for a fault or mistake that involves losing or giving up something

Example:

the contract specified forfeits if the work was not completed on time

Synonyms:

forfeit; forfeiture

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("forfeit" is a kind of...):

penalty (a payment required for not fulfilling a contract)

Derivation:

forfeit (lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something that is lost or surrendered as a penalty

Synonyms:

forfeit; forfeiture

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Hypernyms ("forfeit" is a kind of...):

loss (something that is lost)

Derivation:

forfeit (lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Surrendered as a penalty

Synonyms:

confiscate; forfeit; forfeited

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

lost (not gained or won)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lose (s.th.) or lose the right to (s.th.) by some error, offense, or crime

Example:

forfeited property

Synonyms:

forego; forfeit; forgo; give up; throw overboard; waive

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

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

abandon (forsake, leave behind)

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

lapse (let slip)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Antonym:

claim (demand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to)

Derivation:

forfeit (the act of losing or surrendering something as a penalty for a mistake or fault or failure to perform etc.)

forfeit (a penalty for a fault or mistake that involves losing or giving up something)

forfeit (something that is lost or surrendered as a penalty)

forfeiture (the act of losing or surrendering something as a penalty for a mistake or fault or failure to perform etc.)

forfeiture (a penalty for a fault or mistake that involves losing or giving up something)

forfeiture (something that is lost or surrendered as a penalty)

Credits

 Context examples: 

In the final bout, however, Sir Nigel struck his opponent with so true an aim that the point of the lance caught between the bars of his vizor and tore the front of his helmet out, while the German, aiming somewhat low, and half stunned by the shock, had the misfortune to strike his adversary upon the thigh, a breach of the rules of the tilting-yard, by which he not only sacrificed his chances of success, but would also have forfeited his horse and his armor, had the English knight chosen to claim them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There was a great noise and crowd in the streets, and a man rode up on horseback, crying aloud: The king’s daughter wants a husband; but whoever seeks her hand must perform a hard task, and if he does not succeed he will forfeit his life.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

In this world the penalty is less equal than could be wished; but without presuming to look forward to a juster appointment hereafter, we may fairly consider a man of sense, like Henry Crawford, to be providing for himself no small portion of vexation and regret: vexation that must rise sometimes to self-reproach, and regret to wretchedness, in having so requited hospitality, so injured family peace, so forfeited his best, most estimable, and endeared acquaintance, and so lost the woman whom he had rationally as well as passionately loved.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The maroon had connived at his escape in a shore boat some hours ago, and he now assured us he had only done so to preserve our lives, which would certainly have been forfeit if that man with the one leg had stayed aboard.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It was right that I should pay the forfeit of my headlong passion.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I am very sorry, but it will be my duty to declare it forfeit against you.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If you fail me, then my honour as well as my position are forever forfeited.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His love of danger, his intense appreciation of the drama of an adventure—all the more intense for being held tightly in—his consistent view that every peril in life is a form of sport, a fierce game betwixt you and Fate, with Death as a forfeit, made him a wonderful companion at such hours.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That part of me which I had the power of projecting, had lately been much exercised and nourished; it had seemed to me of late as though the body of Edward Hyde had grown in stature, as though (when I wore that form) I were conscious of a more generous tide of blood; and I began to spy a danger that, if this were much prolonged, the balance of my nature might be permanently overthrown, the power of voluntary change be forfeited, and the character of Edward Hyde become irrevocably mine.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Supported by the conviction of having done nothing to merit her present unhappiness, and consoled by the belief that Edward had done nothing to forfeit her esteem, she thought she could even now, under the first smart of the heavy blow, command herself enough to guard every suspicion of the truth from her mother and sisters.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)