Forsaid

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Describes something that was formally renounced or denied in the past, as an archaic past participle of a verb meaning to forswear
2. Used of a claim or position that someone once rejected outright, in the old past-participle form of an archaic verb of renunciation
3. Refers to something previously disavowed or forsworn, expressed through an obsolete past tense of a verb meaning to deny or abjure

Etymology: "Forsaid" is a compound of the prefix "for-" and "said," the past participle of "say." The "for-" prefix comes from Old English, where it carried the sense of "away," "off," or "against," and in some older verbs it intensified or negated the base meaning. Combined with "said," the result was a verb meaning to speak against, to renounce, or to forbid. Its sense has since been pushed well into the past, so the word now reads as a rare, archaic form.

Synonyms: renounce, forswear, abjure, deny