Revised as of
14 July 2023
There’s waiving and then there’s waving, and neither of them are the same. One is more often used in a legal sense of giving up while the other acts as a signal.
Please do not confuse these two, as it is so negative to find someone waiving to another. Now, if the character had merely been waving to another, I’d be thinking they were right friendly.
You may want to check out “Waiver vs Wave vs Waver“.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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Waive | Wave |
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Part of Grammar: | |
Verb, transitive
Third person present verb: waives |
Noun 1; Verb 2, intransitive & transitive
Plural for the noun: waves Third person present verb: waves |
Refrain from insisting on or using a right or claim
Throw away stolen goods [Archaic] To shunt aside as a danger or duty Dismiss with, or as if with, a wave of the hand Place a ball player on waivers |
Noun: A long body of water curling into an arched form and breaking on the shore 1
A gesture or signal made by moving one’s hand to and fro A slightly curling lock of hair
[Physics] A periodic disturbance of the particles of a substance that may be propagated without net movement of the particles, such as in the passage of undulating motion, heat, or sound
Verb, intransitive:
[Of hair] Grow with a slight curl Float, play, or shake in an air current [Water] To move in waves Verb, transitive:
Style hair so that it curls slightly |
Examples: | |
He will waive all rights to the money.
Her tuition fees would be waived. He waived potential rights in the case by signing the waiver. The selecting team may, at any time, waive the rule 5 draftee. He waived away all thought of Jessica with another man. |
Noun: Don’t you go making waves about this! Lazily, waves curled onto the sandy shore and washed back into the sea. Gulls and cormorants bobbed on the waves. A wave of treetops stretched to the horizon. The crowd did the wave as they yelled for their team. “Just take your time – wave comes. Let the other guys go, catch another one.” – Duke Kahanamoku A wave of strikes had effectively paralyzed the government. Horror came over me in waves. He gave a little wave and walked off. His hair was drying in unruly waves. Her hair has a slight natural wave. Traveling waves are observed when a wave is not confined to a given space along the medium. A sine wave has a pattern that repeats. Verb, intransitive: The flag waved in the wind. Thick, waving gray hair sprouted back from his forehead. Verb, transitive: We waved our farewells. She waved him goodbye. He waved her back. The officer waved him down to pull over. Her hair had been carefully waved for the evening. |
Derivatives: | |
Noun: waiver, waiving | Adjective: waveless, waving, wavelike Adverb: wavelike Verb, intransitive: waver |
Phrasal Verb | |
wave something aside wave someone down wave something down |
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History of the Word: | |
The first known use was in the 14th century.
Middle English weiven meaning to decline, reject, give up and was originally a legal term relating to removal of the protection of the law, from an Anglo-Norman French variant of the Old French gaiver meaning allow to become a waif, stray, lost, abandon. |
The first known use was before the 12th century.
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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Waive versus Wave
Apple Dictionary.com
Merriam-Webster: waive
Pinterest Photo Credits
Spectators Wave Flags by JO1 Lancaster is under the Public Domain Mark 1.0 license, via the US National Archives.