- 1pardon somebody to officially allow someone who has been found guilty of a crime to leave prison and/or avoid punishment She was pardoned after serving ten years of a life sentence.
- 2to forgive someone for something they have said or done (used in many expressions when you want to be polite) synonym excuse pardon something Pardon my ignorance, but what is a “duplex”? The place was, if you'll pardon the expression, a dump. pardon somebody (for something/for doing something) You could be pardoned for thinking (= it is easy to understand why people think) that education is not the government's priority. Pardon me for interrupting you. pardon somebody doing something Pardon my asking, but is that your husband? Idioms
pardon
verbNAmE//ˈpɑrdn//
(not usually used in the progressive tenses)Verb Forms present simple I / you / we / they pardon he / she / it pardons
past simple pardoned
-ing form pardoning
used to say that you are sorry for swearing
used to show that you are upset or offended by the way that someone has spoken to you “Oh, just shut up!” “Well, pardon me for breathing!”
Check pronunciation: pardon