forgiving

adjective

for·​giv·​ing fər-ˈgi-viŋ 

fȯr-

1

: willing or able to forgive

2

: allowing room for error or weakness

designed to be a forgiving tennis racquet

forgivingly adverb

forgivingness noun

Example Sentences

a person with a forgiving nature

Recent Examples on the Web

These will all definitely affect the taste, but this is generally a forgiving recipe. —Christopher Michel, Country Living, 19 Mar. 2023

On the flipside, Gen Z is more forgiving after a bad experience as compared to older generations. —Jeff Fromm, Forbes, 16 Mar. 2023

The same forgiving light of altruism—of benevolent rescue—that shined on the Harts as adoptive parents also cast the kids’ birth families under a shadow of permanent guilt and suspicion. —Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 10 Mar. 2023

However, Wall Street has become less forgiving of media companies that lose huge sums on streaming. —Meg James, Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2023

While the superhero flick was largely panned, critics have been more forgiving with Majors' standout performance. —Jessica Wang, EW.com, 5 Mar. 2023

Hot dogs come in various sizes, and puff pastry is full of fat and so forgiving. —Ann Maloney, Washington Post, 20 Dec. 2022

Next season’s slate which will be a little more forgiving than a 2022 schedule that featured the gauntlet of consecutive games with Syracuse, NC State and Michigan in September. —Kels Dayton, Hartford Courant, 22 Dec. 2022

While the new data limits are in some ways more forgiving than Comcast's data cap, the change may be concerning to Starlink users who have already seen slower speeds in recent months. —Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 8 Nov. 2022

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Word History

First Known Use

1623, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

forgiving

adjective

for·​giv·​ing

fər-ˈgiv-iŋ,

fȯr-

1

: showing forgiveness : inclined or ready to forgive

a person with a forgiving nature

2

: allowing for human error or weakness

a tennis racket designed to be forgiving

forgivingly adverb

forgivingness noun