Forbear meaning

fôr-bâr'
Forbear is defined as to stop yourself from doing something.

An example of forbear is when you stop yourself from eating chocolate.

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To keep oneself from doing something; hold back; refrain.

Forbear from making a comment.

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To be tolerant or patient in the face of provocation.
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To refrain from; resist.

Forbore criticizing them.

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To restrain oneself so as not (to do something).
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To refrain from; avoid or cease (doing, saying, etc.)
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To endure; tolerate.
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To refrain or abstain.
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To keep oneself in check; control oneself under provocation.
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To keep away from; to avoid; to abstain from; to give up.
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(intransitive) To refrain from proceeding; to pause; to delay.
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(intransitive) To refuse; to decline; to give no heed.
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(intransitive) To control oneself when provoked.
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Alternative spelling of forebear.
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Origin of forbear

  • Middle English forberen from Old English forberan to endure bher-1 in Indo-European roots
    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
  • From Middle English forberen, from Old English forberan (“to forbear, abstain from, refrain; suffer, endure, tolerate, humor; restrain; do without”), from Proto-Germanic *fraberaną (“to hold back, endure”), equivalent to for- +‎ bear. Cognate with Old Frisian forbera (“to forfeit”), Middle High German verbërn (“to have not; abstain; refrain from; avoid”), Gothic [script?] (frabairan, “to endure”). [script?]
    From Wiktionary

Forbear Sentence Examples

  • A woman could not forbear declaring openly that her faith had saved her.

  • The Three Sermons also point to a moral argument for theism, but forbear to press it (Sermon ii.; when the third sense of the word " Nature " is being explained).

  • What I do about slavery and the coloured race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union ...

  • Whiston informs us that, some time before the publication of this book, a message was sent to him from Lord Godolphin "that the affairs of the public were with difficulty then kept in the hands of those that were for liberty; that it was therefore an unseasonable time for the publication of a book that would make a great noise and disturbance; and that therefore they desired him to forbear till a fitter opportunity should offer itself," - a message that Clarke of course entirely disregarded.

  • So, too, in his great maxim " bear and forbear," the last is a command to refrain from the external advantages.

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Also Mentioned In

Words near forbear in the Dictionary