Word of the Day

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

forgo

\for-GO\ , transitive verb;

Inflected forms: forwent, forgone, forgoing, forgoes

To abstain from; to do without.

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Quotes:

This one has given up smoking today, I knew; that one his weekly visit to the cafe, another will forgo her favorite foods.

-- Joanne Harris, Chocolat

If my deepest wish is to sit on a beach in Maine fishing for bass, I might cheerfully forgo stock options in Microsoft to do it.

-- Alan Ryan, "It's Not Easy Being Equal", New York Times, June 18, 2000

As much as I wanted to forgo college and head straight to New York to become an actress, my father said that all knowledge would serve me and that the more I knew the more I could bring to my work.

-- Jane Alexander, Command Performance

Origin:

Forgo derives from Old English forgan, "to go without, to forgo," from for-, "without" + gan, "to go."