Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to heaven forfend

to heaven forfend

9.9
To say you do not want something bad to happen
  • idiom
  • Archaic
translation icon : Dios no lo quiera
  • Heaven forfend we face another natural disaster this year after the last one.

Examples

  • I'm sure some of you have prospects and some of you even have a future before you, even if it's only in Graduate School or heaven forfend law school.

  • HC: Heaven forfend!

    Academic text (2001)

  • Heaven forfend my little sister ever gets hurt while riding her bike.

  • She said, heaven forfend, that her favorite restaurant could close down.

Synonyms

God forbid
vsto heaven forfend
  • Informal
22 6.6

To show a strong wish that something bad will not happen

is phrased as a wish asking a higher power to stop the event
Heaven forbid
vsto heaven forfend
  • Informal
3 7.7

I hope nothing bad happens

is framed as a direct wish asking a higher power to prevent it
God forfend
vsto heaven forfend
  • Archaic
9.9

May God stop something bad from happening

uses a wish that invokes a realm rather than naming a deity to prevent harm

Antonyms

to allow
∞ 1.0

To let something happen or let someone do something

to encourage
325 2.1

Help something grow or develop

Surface Forms

heaven forfend infinitive

Morphology

heaven + forfend

The phrase is a direct, prayer-like combination of 'heaven' (a divine protector) and 'forfend' (to prevent), so its meaning 'may heaven prevent something undesirable' is compositionally derivable. Although somewhat archaic and formulaic in usage, the semantics are transparent and mirror cross-linguistic constructions (e.g. 'God forbid'), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would grasp the sense.

Etymology

Heaven forfend began as a short prayer asking heaven to stop bad things. The old word forfend meant 'prevent', so saying heaven forfend is like saying 'may heaven prevent' and is used today to wish that something bad will not happen.