Glossary of Usage: Waive and Wave

Commonly Confused Words

waive and wave
The Great Wave off the Coast of Kanagawa (1820s) by Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

The words waive and wave are homophones: they sound alike but have different meanings.

Definitions

The verb waive means to voluntarily defer, dispense with, or give up (a claim or right).

The verb wave means to make a signal with the hand or to move freely back and forth. As a noun, wave refers to a ridge of water, a surge, or a rising trend.

Examples

  • Some agencies waive the collection fees on overdue student loans if they are paid in full.
  • The retiring ballplayer waved to the crowd, looking somber in his final moment of glory.
  • "A silent security guard in a pasty-green uniform directed us with a careless wave to a flapping wooden door, from which a cold, abysmal breeze steadily blew."
    (Larry Frolick, Grand Centaur Station. McClelland & Stewart, 2004)
  • "The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave."
    (Thomas Jefferson in a letter to Richard Rush, October 20, 1820)
  • "The singing reached Joe vaguely; he felt happy and friendly toward all the people gathered here . . .. He liked them—he loved them. Great waves of good feeling flowed through him."
    (F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Crazy Sunday." American Mercury, 1932)
  • "[T]he crossing guard stands and winks at me daily, as dependably as a blinking light. . . . She is waving cars and people forward in waves."
    (Rosellen Brown, "How to Win." The Massachusetts Review, 1975)

Idiom Alerts

  • Make Waves
    The metaphorical expression to make waves means to create a disturbance or make trouble by doing or saying something new or different.
    "Today, artists kicking around in political waters are more likely to make waves online using social media, and more likely to gain viral attention with an unexpected political quip at an opportune moment."
    (Joe Cascarelli, "Prophets of Rage Bring Their Anger to the Republican Convention." The New York Times, July 20, 2016)
  • Wave (Someone or Something) Off or Away
    The phrasal verb to wave (someone or something) off or away means to dismiss or to make a signal with the hand indicating that someone or something should move away or stay at a distance.
    - China once could wave off complaints about its currency policies, arguing that it was a developing nation entitled to a bit of slack from its Western customers.
    - "Kipper waved off a security guard who seemed intent on holding them up, and accelerated past, paying no respect at all to his frantically waving clipboard."
    (John Birmingham, Without Warning. Del Ray, 2009)

Practice

(a) A record-breaking heat _____ tightened its grip on New York City on Tuesday.

(b) "An enormous _____ crashed high on the beach, sweeping the castle into the sea."
(Steven J. Simmons, Alice and Gretta. Charlesbridge, 1997)

(c) According to policy experts, parties may choose to _____ legal rights when public money is involved.

(d) The country has recently experienced another great _____ of immigration, the largest since the 1920s.

Answers to Practice Exercises: Waive and Wave

(a) A record-breaking heat wave tightened its grip on New York City on Tuesday.

(b) "An enormous wave crashed high on the beach, sweeping the castle into the sea."
(Steven J. Simmons, Alice and Gretta. Charlesbridge, 1997)

(c) According to policy experts, parties may choose to waive legal rights when public money is involved.

(d) The country has recently experienced another great wave of immigration, the largest since the 1920s.

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Your Citation
Nordquist, Richard. "Glossary of Usage: Waive and Wave." ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/waive-and-wave-1689524. Nordquist, Richard. (2020, August 26). Glossary of Usage: Waive and Wave. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/waive-and-wave-1689524 Nordquist, Richard. "Glossary of Usage: Waive and Wave." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/waive-and-wave-1689524 (accessed March 28, 2024).