different between deserve vs forgive

English

Etymology

From Middle English deserven, from Old French deservir, from Latin d?servi?, from d?- + servi?.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??z??v/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /d??z?v/
• Hyphenation: de?serve
• Rhymes: -??(?)v

Verb

deserve (third-person singular simple present deserves, present participle deserving, simple past and past participle deserved)

1. (transitive) To be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.

   After playing so well, the team really deserved their win.

   After what he did, he deserved to go to prison.

   This argument deserves a closer examination.

   • 1853, William Makepeace Thackeray, The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century

     John Gay deserved to be a favourite.
2. (obsolete) To earn, win.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.vii:

     That gentle Lady, whom I loue and serue, / After long suit and weary seruicis, / Did aske me, how I could her loue deserue, / And how she might be sure, that I would neuer swerue.

3. (obsolete) To reward, to give in return for service.
   • 1603?, William Shakespeare, Othello:

4. (obsolete) To serve; to treat; to benefit.
   • c. 1619–22, Philip Massinger and John Fletcher, A Very Woman

     A man that hath / So well deserved me.

Usage notes

• This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• This is generally a stative verb that rarely takes the continuous inflection. See Category:English stative verbs

Synonyms

• merit
• See also Thesaurus:deserve

Derived terms

• well-deserved

Related terms

• desert
• serve somebody right

Translations

Further reading

• deserve at OneLook Dictionary Search
• deserve in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Veeders, severed

English

Etymology

Alternation (due to give) of Middle English foryiven, for?iven, from Old English for?iefan (“to forgive, give up, provide”), from Proto-Germanic *frageban? (“to give away; give up; release; forgive”), equivalent to for- +? give (etymologically for- + yive). Cognate with Scots forgeve, forgif, forgie (“to forgive”), West Frisian ferjaan (“to forgive”), Dutch vergeven (“to forgive”), German vergeben (“to forgive”), Icelandic fyrirgefa (“to forgive”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: f?r-g?v', fôr-g?v', IPA^(key): /f?(?)???v/, /f??(?)???v/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /f????v/
• Rhymes: -?v

Verb

forgive (third-person singular simple present forgives, present participle forgiving, simple past forgave, past participle forgiven)

1. (transitive) To pardon; to waive any negative feeling or desire for punishment, retribution, or compensation.

2. (intransitive) To accord forgiveness.
   • a. 1768, Laurence Sterne, Joseph's History considered; - Forgiveness of Injuries (sermon)

     The brave know only how to forgive […] A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.

Derived terms

• forgivable
• forgiveness
• forgiveworthy

Translations

References

• forgive in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• forgive in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.