waive
Often confused with wave
Pluralwaives
- 1To give up a right or claim on purpose.
Like choosing not to use a coupon you are allowed to use.
You can waive your right to remain silent at any time.
They decided to waive all claims against the company.
Similarrelinquish, forgo, renounce, surrender, abandon
Oppositeexercise, assert, claim, enforce
Note
- 2To agree not to charge money that someone would normally have to pay.
Like a store letting you skip a charge you would usually pay.
The bank agreed to waive the monthly fee for students.
They will waive the delivery cost on large orders.
Similarcancel, forgo, remit, drop, scrap
Oppositecharge, impose, collect, levy
Note
- 3To set something aside or stay away from it.
Like turning away from something so you don't have to deal with it.
He tried to waive all thought of danger and press on.
Travelers would waive the longer road and take the path through the woods.
Note
- 4To leave someone or something behind for good.
but she might be waived, and held as abandoned.
1851, Alexander Mansfield Burrill, Law Dictionary and GlossaryHere, waived means given up entirely or abandoned.Note
- 5To declare someone an outlaw, outside the law's protection.
Note
- 6A person who has been left behind by others or has no home.
Like a lost kitten with no home to return to.
The old woman took in a ragged waive she found shivering by the gate.
But vvhat a vvretched, and diſconſolate Hermitage is that Houſe, vvhich is not viſited by thee [God], and vvhat a VVayue, and Stray is that Man, that hath not thy Markes vpon him?
1624, John Donne, “13. Prayer”Here, VVayue means an outcast, a lost and homeless person.Note
- 7A woman declared an outlaw, outside the law's protection.
Like a person banned from town with no one allowed to help her.
The court named her a waive after she fled her trial.
As a waive, she could find no shelter in any honest household.
Note
- 8To swing or move from side to side.
Like tall grass swinging back and forth in the breeze.
The tall reeds waive gently in the river wind.
She watched the lantern waive back and forth on its hook.
Note
- 9To wander or stray with no fixed path.
Like wandering off a trail with no plan of where to go.
The lost sheep waive across the hills at dusk.
He let his thoughts waive far from the lesson.
Note
Showing meanings only.
Use it in a sentence
Write your own sentence with waive, and AI will tell you whether it fits and which meaning you used.
Origins
From an old Middle English word meaning "to avoid or give up." It came from French words meaning "to abandon," and further back from a Scandinavian source.
From an old Middle English word meaning "to wave or waver," which came from an Old Norse word meaning "to wave or swing."
From Anglo-Norman waive, probably the past participle form of the word behind Etymology 1.