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Are "forging ahead" and "forging a check" from the same forge?
There are many things you can do with the word forge in English. You can forge ahead (which, confusingly enough, can mean either "move slowly and steadily" or "move with a sudden increase of speed"), you can forge a check or a painting (make something fake), or you can forge a sword (make something real). The senses that relate to creating something (either real or fake) come from the same Latin word that gives us fabric, which is fabricare ("to fashion, construct"). We are not certain where the “movement” senses of forge come from, except insofar as we know that they are from a different origin than the “creation” senses of the word.
Synonyms
Examples of forge in a Sentence
Hope Hodge Seck, Popular Mechanics, 21 Aug. 2023
After that point, European immigrants dominated the workforce at the forge, and for more than a century, these European workers received credit for creating the high-quality wares that had been crafted by enslaved African Americans.
—Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Aug. 2023
Emory, who lives about a half-hour from the forge, was able to trace her ancestry to Robert Patterson, a free African American with ties to Catoctin who worked as a collier, producing the charcoal used to run furnaces, and who also owned a farm.
—Usha Lee McFarling, STAT, 3 Aug. 2023
For the last stop of the outing, Charles chatted with a blacksmith at a forge, as beacons glowed in honor of his historic coronation.
—Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 2 Aug. 2023
The general store became one of the resort’s 15 frontier-luxe guest cabins, with a private hot-spring pool; the forge became another.
—Adam Erace, Fortune, 8 Aug. 2023
The graveyard is located on an iron forge known as Catoctin Furnace, which began operating in the 1770s.
—Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Aug. 2023
The two forge a bond after a disastrous date, and something like a friendship blossoms.
—Dallasnews.com Staff, Dallas News, 3 Aug. 2023
The forge reached 2,300 to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit.
—Beth Mlady, cleveland, 21 July 2023
Condé Nast, The New Yorker, 18 Sep. 2023
Moving forward, Morris is forging an instinctual path, not an institutional one.
—Hannah Summerhill, Vogue, 15 Sep. 2023
But as the six-hour session wore on Wednesday, there was little apparent consensus about what a congressional framework should look like to govern AI, as companies forge ahead amid a tense industry arms race.
—David Dimolfetta, Washington Post, 13 Sep. 2023
Since 2021, the US and some European countries have forged Just Energy Transition Partnerships with several emerging economies including South Africa, Vietnam, and Senegal, intended to stimulate investment in renewables while ensuring good jobs.
—Caitlin Harrington, WIRED, 13 Sep. 2023
Without the allure of European friendship, Beijing would have little to lose by supplying Moscow with weapons or forging a formal geopolitical alliance with its northern neighbor.
—Dominic Tierney, Foreign Affairs, 11 Sep. 2023
That need would eventually forge into an internal compass.
—Kevin McDonnell, Peoplemag, 11 Sep. 2023
And once again, Vietnam, a country that within a quarter-century repelled three invaders — France, the United States and China — is hoping to stay clear of a superpower showdown and forge its own path.
—Hannah Beech, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2023
But so far, the strain has yet to forge a clear path toward dominance, either locally or globally.
—Rong-Gong Lin Ii, Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 2023
Matt Kawahara, San Francisco Chronicle, 8 Apr. 2023
The Vichy police caught Spira forging documents and deported him to Poland, and he was imprisoned at Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Theresienstadt.
—Town & Country, 8 Apr. 2023
It might be pinged by someone or something strongly, forging an instantaneous connection.
—Tarot Astrologers, Chicago Tribune, 7 Apr. 2023
The knife begins with a process known as Hizukui Tanzou, which heats up the metal and forges the knife into its general shape.
—Darren Orf, Popular Mechanics, 4 Apr. 2023
JCPenney made it out with 55,000 employees and is forging a new future.
—Maria Halkias, Dallas News, 3 Apr. 2023
If there were questions about the wisdom of investing in college football at the time, forging ahead proved a boon on several fronts, Wicker said.
—Billy Witz, New York Times, 3 Apr. 2023
The announcement of his new campaign committee garnered the national attention Newsom craves, and the governor’s travels will surely elevate his profile further, bulk up his political treasury and forge a countrywide network of connections.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 2 Apr. 2023
Further investigation found that at least 25 people associated with Pir’s big game hunting outfitter company presented forged documents to import at least 97 hunting trophies into the U.S. between 2013 and 2018, the Justice Department said.
—Camille Fine, USA TODAY, 30 Mar. 2023
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These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'forge.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Noun
Middle English, "smith's workshop," borrowed from Anglo-French, going back to Gallo-Romance *faurga, going back to Latin fabrica "process of making something, craft, workshop" — more at fabric
Verb (1)
Middle English forgen "to form, shape (metal by heat), invent, contrive, counterfeit," borrowed from Anglo-French forger, forgier, going back to Latin fabricāre, fabricārī "to fashion, shape, construct" — more at fabricate
Verb (2)
origin unknown
Noun
13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Verb (1)
14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a
Verb (2)
1611, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Phrases Containing forge
Articles Related to forge
Dictionary Entries Near forge
Cite this Entry
“Forge.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/forge. Accessed 29 Sep. 2023.
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Kids Definition
forge
1 of 3 noun
forge
2 of 3 verbforge
3 of 3 verbNoun
Middle English forge "workshop where metal is heated and shaped," from early French forge (same meaning), from Latin fabrica "workshop for making things of metal"
Verb
origin unknown
Medical Definition
forge
intransitive verb
Legal Definition
forge
verb
More from Merriam-Webster on forge
Nglish: Translation of forge for Spanish Speakers
Britannica English: Translation of forge for Arabic Speakers
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about forge
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