heaven forfend
Used to express that one hopes that something does not happenUsed to express that one hopes that something does not happen
UK/ˌhɛvn̩ fɔːˈfɛnd/US/ˌhɛv(ə)n fɔɹˈfɛnd/
» That would be disastrous. Heaven forfend!
Це була б катастрофа. Боронь Боже! — shanghainese
Борони боже! То була б катастрофа. — shanghainese
halfb1t · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRMeaning
1 senses(dated, humorous)Used to express that one hopes that something does not happen
Examples
2 sentencesThat would be disastrous. Heaven forfend!
Це була б катастрофа. Боронь Боже! — shanghainese
Heaven forfend that anyone refer to Sir Tom Jackson QC as a mere lawyer.
Translations
2 languagesOrigin
From heaven (“abode of God”) + forfend (“to avert; to forbid, prohibit”).From heaven (“abode of God”) + forfend (“to avert; to forbid, prohibit”).
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source