for-

Fetched 2026-10-28 (cache).

Datamuse reports no synonyms or antonyms for this word.

Prefix

1. Forth: prefixed to verbs to indicate a direction of 'away', 'off', 'forth'.
   • forsteal is to steal away, forsend is to send away to banishment, forban is to exile, fordrive is to drive away, fortake is to take away, forthrow is to throw off, forshake is to shake off, forhow is to cast off
2. Exhausting: prefixed to verbs with the sense of wearing or exhausting oneself.
   • forsing is to sing to exhaustion, forwander is to wander until weary, fortravel is to tire by travelling
3. Destructively: prefixed to verbs with the sense of destruction or pain.
   • forhang is to hang to death, forthink is to cause distress or regret to, fordo is to kill
4. Wrongly: prefixed to verbs with the sense of wrongly, amorally.
   • forteach is to misteach, forswear is to commit perjury, forworship is to worship wrongly, forlead is to mislead, forlive is to live pervertedly
5. Neglectfully: prefixed to verbs with the sense of abstaining from or neglecting.
   • forslip is to allow someone or something to escape by letting them slip by; forslug is to lose, neglect, or destroy by sluggishness; forslack is to lose or spoil by slackness
6. Very: intensifying adjectives.
   • forblack is extremely black, forswollen is excessively swollen
7. Making: prefixed to verbs to indicate the subject takes the character of the verb.
   • fordote is to make foolish or doting, forguilt is to bring into a state of guilt
8. Excessively: prefixed to verbs with the sense of doing so in excessive or overwhelm.
   • forwax / forgrow is to grow to excess, forhare is to affright or harry exceedingly
9. Excluding: prefixed to verbs to give the sense of prohibition or exclusion.
   • forjudge is to exclude by a judgment, forshut is to shut off or out, forbar is to exclude
10. Intensively
    • forbeat is to beat, fordread is to be in dread of, forlay is to lie in wait for
11. Thoroughly: prefixed to verbs with the sense of thoroughly, all over.
    • forgrow is to become grown over or become covered with growth, forbathe is to bathe abundantly or thoroughly, forseek is to seek thoroughly, forwrap is to wrap up

Prefix

1. Misspelling of fore- (“before [in time or position]”).
   • forstand (“stand against”) vs. forestand (“stand in front of [someone/something]”)
   • forlead (“lead forth/forward”) vs. forelead (“lead before, prelead”), very often confused with each other
   • fordede (“a “dede” [deed] done for another”)

Prefix

1. Outside; out-.
   • foreclose
   • forfeit
   • forprise
   • forcatch

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wiktionary) · cached copy, not a rewrite.