Synonyms of forswear

forswear

verb

fȯr-ˈswer 

variants also foreswear

as in to renounce

to solemnly or formally reject or go back on (as something formerly adhered to)

the new government would have to forswear the use of torture if it wished to be granted full diplomatic recognition

Synonyms & Similar Words

• renounce
• withdraw
• retract
• deny
• repeal
• abandon
• abjure
• contradict
• relinquish
• recant
• refute
• renege
• repudiate
• take back
• unsay
• abnegate
• forsake
• spurn
• disavow
• gainsay
• disclaim
• disown
• recall
• controvert
• revoke
• disprove
• negate
• surrender
• rebut
• disagree (with)
• dispute
• negative
• give up
• disallow
• back down
• back off
• backtrack
• bolt

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• maintain
• admit
• declare
• acknowledge
• assert
• claim
• affirm
• contend
• proclaim
• adhere (to)
• state
• defend
• support
• accept
• confirm
• endorse
• profess
• uphold
• adopt
• avow
• vow
• embrace
• back
• vouch
• espouse

Synonym Chooser

How is the word forswear different from other verbs like it?

Some common synonyms of forswear are abjure, recant, renounce, and retract. While all these words mean "to withdraw one's word or professed belief," forswear may add an implication of perjury or betrayal.

I cannot forswear my principles

When might abjure be a better fit than forswear?

The words abjure and forswear can be used in similar contexts, but abjure implies a firm and final rejecting or abandoning often made under oath.

abjured the errors of his former faith

When would recant be a good substitute for forswear?

While in some cases nearly identical to forswear, recant stresses the withdrawing or denying of something professed or taught.

if they recant they will be spared

When can renounce be used instead of forswear?

In some situations, the words renounce and forswear are roughly equivalent. However, renounce may carry the meaning of disclaim or disown.

renounced abstract art and turned to portrait painting

When is retract a more appropriate choice than forswear?

The synonyms retract and forswear are sometimes interchangeable, but retract applies to the withdrawing of a promise, an offer, or an accusation.

the newspaper had to retract the story

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of forswear

Barker first made his name by subtracting the kick drum from techno, and Stochastic Drift, true to form, forswears anything like an anchoring bass drum in order to bounce freely atop choppy waves of ambient pulse. —Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork, 9 Dec. 2025

Other offshoots in Turkey and Tunisia have forsworn violence and come to power by democratic means. —Adeola Adeosun, MSNBC Newsweek, 24 Nov. 2025

Beijing, in other words, got Washington to forswear one of its best economic tools just as China was wielding its own leverage. —Mira Rapp-Hooper, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025

Many women did so, forswearing British wares, spinning flax on town greens, and swapping handwritten patriotic verse while drinking herbal-tea substitutes. —Jane Kamensky, The Atlantic, 10 Oct. 2025

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