What does forgone mean?
'Forgone' is the past participle of the verb 'forgo', which means to give up, renounce, or do without something — usually voluntarily and for good reason. When an opportunity, pleasure, or benefit is forgone, it has been deliberately passed over rather than lost by accident. The word appears most often in formal writing and in economics, where phrases like 'forgone earnings', 'forgone revenue', and 'opportunities forgone' describe what was sacrificed in choosing one course of action over another. It carries a tone of conscious decision and measured self-restraint rather than deprivation. 'Forgone' is frequently confused with the near-identical 'foregone', as in 'a foregone conclusion'; that word means already decided or having gone before, while 'forgone' always involves giving something up. Both descend from Old English verbs built with prefixes meaning 'away from' or 'before', making them etymological twins whose meanings have diverged sharply — a distinction worth mastering for precise writing.
verbForgone is the past participle of the verb 'forgo', meaning to give up, renounce, or do without something, often willingly and for a particular reason.
- As the past participle of 'forgo': describing something that has been given up, relinquished, or done without.
- In economics and accounting: used to describe benefits, profits, or revenue that were sacrificed by choosing one option over another.
"She decided to forgo dessert, so the chocolate cake went uneaten."
"The committee voted to accept the settlement, and all further litigation was forgone."
"Choosing the cheaper supplier meant forgone revenue of nearly two million pounds."
The phrase 'foregone conclusion' uses the wrong twin: swap one letter's worth of history and you get 'forgone', which means giving something up entirely.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of forgone
'Forgone' descends from the verb 'forgo', formed in Old English from the prefix 'for-' (meaning 'away from' or 'to abstain from') combined with 'go'. Its close relative 'forego' uses instead the prefix 'fore-', meaning 'before', producing a word about going beforehand rather than doing without. This pairing gives English two look-alike words with distinct meanings: 'forgone' for things relinquished and 'foregone' for things already determined. Cognate prefixed verbs such as 'forsake', 'forget', and 'forgive' share the same Old English prefix family.
Related word forms
How forgone is actually used
'Forgone' appears almost exclusively as a past participle — it is rarely used attributively on its own and is most natural after another verb ('was forgone', 'having forgone') or in economic contexts such as 'forgone earnings' or 'forgone interest'. It is somewhat formal in register. Because it is easily confused with its near-homophone 'foregone', careful writers double-check which spelling suits their meaning.
Easily confused with forgone
'Forgone' means given up or done without (from 'for-go'), while the similar-looking 'foregone' means having gone before or already determined, as in a 'foregone conclusion'.