variants
also foreswearing
as in renouncing
to solemnly or formally reject or go back on (as something formerly adhered to)
the new government would have to forswear the use of torture if it wished to be granted full diplomatic recognition
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of forswearing
Many women did so, forswearing British wares, spinning flax on town greens, and swapping handwritten patriotic verse while drinking herbal-tea substitutes.
—
Jane Kamensky, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
Jane Kamensky, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for forswearing
Verb
-
Margaret’s father succeeded him as King George VI, and her mother Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, never forgave the duke for renouncing his duty to his country.—
Samantha Conti,
Footwear News,
29 Dec. 2025
-
Ukraine withdrawing from all of the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and Kyiv officially renouncing its aim to join NATO.—
Andrea Shalal,
USA Today,
28 Dec. 2025
Verb
-
India agreed to draw down its purchases, thereby withdrawing a critical financial lifeline for Russia amid its war against Ukraine.—
Kate Nishimura,
Sourcing Journal,
9 Feb. 2026
-
Investigators said Neves-Valente was a former Brown University student who attended the Ivy League school from 2000 to 2001 as part of a PhD program in physics before formally withdrawing in the fall of 2003.—
Ashley Carnahan,
FOXNews.com,
9 Feb. 2026
Verb
-
School public safety had initially reported that a suspect had been taken into custody before retracting that statement.—
Kierra Frazier,
CBS News,
13 Dec. 2025
-
This series of exemptions is part of EPA’s suite of PFAS de-regulation that includes approving PFAS-laden pesticides and retracting some of its maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) that were the result of years of careful research and policymaking.—
Jasmine Laws,
MSNBC Newsweek,
13 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Authorities are increasingly denying detainees access to legal counsel and often holding them for days or weeks before allowing any phone calls to family.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
14 Feb. 2026
-
Decades later, Faraci cooperated with Modrowski’s lawyer during the post-conviction proceedings and submitted two affidavits in 2019 and 2011 denying Modrowski was involved, court records show.—
Christy Gutowski,
Chicago Tribune,
13 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Forswearing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/forswearing. Accessed 16 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
