Waived

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To voluntarily relinquish a claim or right, often in a formal context, as well as to allow an exemption from a condition or rule, and to forgo a legal requirement without contesting it
2. To choose not to enforce a right or claim, indicating a conscious decision to give up a benefit or privilege, and to disregard a legal obligation in a specific situation
3. To intentionally give up a legal right or claim ; to permit an exception to a rule or requirement in certain cases

Etymology: "Waived" is the past tense of "waive," and the verb has a surprising tangle of roots. Its earliest sense in English was closer to "to abandon" or "to renounce" than to giving something up by choice. The Middle English "weyven" came from Anglo-Norman "weyver," which meant to abandon, or to let something become a stray. That Anglo-Norman word traces back to Old French "gaiver," also meaning to abandon, and ultimately to Scandinavian or North Germanic sources. The legal flavour of the idea, a right set aside or an object left unclaimed, was present from the start. A second, separate English verb "waive" also existed, from Middle English "weyven," meaning to wave or waver, borrowed from Old Norse "veifa," "to wave, swing." It is a different word that happens to share a spelling. Modern "waive" descends from the first family, the one about abandoning and renouncing, and the sense of voluntarily surrendering a claim or right developed from that older meaning of letting something go.

Synonyms: relinquished, forgone, surrendered, abandoned, resigned

Antonyms: asserted, retained, claimed, maintained, upheld