Waive

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /weɪv/

Definitions

1. To voluntarily give up a right, claim, or privilege that one is legally entitled to exercise
2. To intentionally relinquish a right, claim, or entitlement one holds without coercion, thereby resulting in the loss of associated privileges
3. To forgo a legal right, claim, or privilege willingly, thereby preventing any opportunity to enforce or benefit from it

Etymology: The verb "waive" is a tangle of two unrelated words that happened to converge on one spelling. The older strand comes from Anglo-Norman "weyver," meaning "to abandon, allow to become a waif," which in turn derives from Old French "gaiver," "to abandon." A waif was once a stray object or animal with no claimant, and to waive a right was to let it go the way one leaves a stray thing unclaimed. That sense of abandonment is the original core. The second strand is a different word entirely. Middle English "weyven" also meant "to wave, waver," from Old Norse "veifa," "to wave, swing," which goes back to a Proto-Germanic root. Its literal sense is motion, like a flag swaying in the wind. English speakers eventually merged the two, and the pronunciation /weɪv/ reflects that shared spelling rather than any single shared ancestor.

Synonyms: relinquish, forego

Antonyms: claim, retain