What does forfeiture mean?
Forfeiture is the loss of property, money, rights, or privileges as a penalty for breaking a law, breaching a contract, or violating a rule. It appears most often in formal and legal contexts: courts order the forfeiture of assets obtained through crime, landlords may seek forfeiture of a lease when tenants breach its terms, and athletes face forfeiture of matches or prizes for infractions. The word can describe both the act of losing something and the lost item itself. Its connotations are inherently punitive — unlike surrender or sale, forfeiture is imposed by an external authority rather than chosen freely. Derived from medieval legal practice, when offenders could lose land and goods to the Crown, it remains central to modern discussions of criminal justice, particularly civil asset forfeiture in the United States, where critics argue it can punish people without a criminal conviction.
nounThe act of losing or being deprived of property, rights, money, or privileges as a penalty for breaking a law, contract, or rule. It also refers to the asset or right itself that has been lost in this way.
- The loss of property, money, or rights as a legal or contractual penalty.
- The property or right itself that has been surrendered under such a penalty.
"The player's match fee was subject to forfeiture after he failed to appear for the tournament."
"The company faced forfeiture of its licence after repeated safety violations."
"Under civil forfeiture laws, authorities may seize assets suspected of connection to criminal activity."
The plural is used mainly in legal and administrative writing, typically referring to multiple acts of forfeiture or several assets seized under separate proceedings.
"The agency reported record forfeitures last fiscal year."
In medieval England, criminals who fled could be declared 'waived' — their lands passed straight to the Crown through forfeiture, meaning a single crime could erase a family's entire inheritance.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of forfeiture
Forfeiture comes from the Anglo-Latin 'forisfactura', derived from 'forisfacere', meaning 'to transgress' — literally to do something 'outside' (foris) what is permitted. The term entered English through medieval legal usage in the late Middle Ages, when breaches of feudal duty could cost a vassal his lands. It shares its Latin root 'foris' ('outside', 'beyond the door') with words such as 'foreign' and 'foreclose', both of which carry the sense of exclusion or being shut out.
Related word forms
How forfeiture is actually used
Forfeiture is a formal, chiefly legal term, common in contracts, sports regulations, and criminal law. In American English, 'civil asset forfeiture' refers specifically to law enforcement seizing property suspected of involvement in crime, a practice that remains legally contested. It carries a negative connotation of punishment or loss imposed by an authority rather than chosen voluntarily.
Easily confused with forfeiture
"Forfeit" is the underlying verb or noun referring to the loss or the thing surrendered, while "forfeiture" is the more formal noun denoting the act or process of losing something as a penalty.