Forgiveness is a powerful act that can heal relationships and bring peace. Understanding how to express forgiveness in English can help you navigate difficult situations with grace and empathy. Here are 20 idioms and phrasal verbs to help you talk about forgiving.

1. Bury the Hatchet

Meaning: Make peace
Example: They decided to bury the hatchet and move on.

2. Let Bygones Be Bygones

Meaning: Forget past offenses
Example: Let’s let bygones be bygones and start fresh.

3. Forgive and Forget

Meaning: Stop feeling anger
Example: It’s time to forgive and forget what happened.

4. Wipe the Slate Clean

Meaning: Start anew
Example: Let’s wipe the slate clean and forget our quarrels.

5. Make Amends

Meaning: Repair a relationship
Example: He apologized to make amends with his friend.

6. Turn the Other Cheek

Meaning: Respond without retaliation
Example: She chose to turn the other cheek after the insult.

7. Patch Things Up

Meaning: Repair a relationship
Example: They patched things up after their argument.

8. Kiss and Make Up

Meaning: Reconcile
Example: They had a fight but soon kissed and made up.

9. Let It Go

Meaning: Stop worrying about it
Example: It’s better to let it go and not stress.

10. Smooth Over

Meaning: Resolve a conflict
Example: They tried to smooth over their differences.

11. Extend an Olive Branch

Meaning: Offer peace
Example: She extended an olive branch by apologizing first.

12. Mend Fences

Meaning: Restore good relations
Example: He tried to mend fences with his neighbor.

13. Come to Terms With

Meaning: Accept and move on
Example: She came to terms with her brother’s mistakes.

14. Clear the Air

Meaning: Remove misunderstanding
Example: They cleared the air after the heated discussion.

15. Make Peace With

Meaning: Reconcile
Example: He finally made peace with his past mistakes.

16. Call It Even

Meaning: Stop considering debts
Example: Let’s call it even and forget the past.

17. Put the Past Behind

Meaning: Move on from past
Example: We should put the past behind and be friends.

18. Rise Above

Meaning: Be superior to offense
Example: She rose above and forgave his rude comments.

19. Bury the Hatchet

Meaning: End a conflict
Example: They decided to bury the hatchet and move forward.

20. Turn Over a New Leaf

Meaning: Start afresh
Example: They turned over a new leaf after reconciling.