pardon
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɑːdn̩/
ipa: /ˈpɑɹdn̩/
ipa: [ˈpʰɑ˞dn̩]
ipa: /ˈpaːdɘn/
ipa: [ˈpʰäːɾɘn]
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dən
Forms: form: pardons
form: pardoning
form: pardoned
form: pardoned
Etymology: From Middle English pardonen, from Old French pardoner (modern French pardonner), from Late Latin perdonare, from per- + donare, possibly a calque (if not vice-versa) of a Germanic word represented by Frankish *firgeban (“to forgive, give up completely”), from *fir- + *geban. Akin to Old High German fargeban, firgeban (“to forgive”), Old English forġiefan (“to forgive”). More at forgive.
Senses: examples: text: O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth, / That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
ref: 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
text: I hope you will not find he has outstepped the truth more than may be pardoned, in consideration of the motive.
ref: 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
text: Well! the King of France died pardoning & pitying all those who had tortured his Soul & Body, a great Pattern for us all.
ref: 1793 March 19, Hester Piozzi, Thraliana:
text: In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
synonyms: amnesty
glosses: To forgive (a person).
examples: text: I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
glosses: To refrain from exacting as a penalty.
examples: text: The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.
ref: 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
text: In that situation, that memo would include a list of individuals that Biden might consider pardoning preemptively, the context about any prior legal precedent, and a discussion of the wide range of potential ramifications if the president does move forward with these pardons.
ref: 2024 December 5, Marshall Cohen, MJ Lee, Paula Reid and Katelyn Polantz, “Biden White House considering preemptive pardons for Trump’s perceived enemies”, in CNN:
text: President Donald Trump says he pardoned Trevor Milton, the CEO of now-defunct hydrogen and electric truck firm Nikola, in part because he believed Milton was persecuted for supporting Trump’s political ambitions.
ref: 2025 March 28, Kevin Liptak, “Trump pardons Trevor Milton, who was accused of fraud related to bankrupt truck maker Nikola”, in CNN:
topics: law
glosses: To grant an official pardon for a crime.
Derived terms: pardonable
pardoner
pardon me
pardon mon français
pardon my French
pardon the expression
self-pardon
unpardonable
unpardoning