abandon
Americanverb (used with object)
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abandons,
present (3rd person singular)
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abandoned,
past participle, past
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abandoning
present participle
-
to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert.
The crew finally abandoned the sinking ship and boarded a lifeboat.
He abandoned his wife and children, leaving them in poverty.
- Antonyms:
- keep
-
to give up; withdraw from; discontinue.
She had to abandon the research project when the grant money dried up.
I’ve abandoned all hope of a stage career.
-
to give up the control of.
After a long struggle, they abandoned the city to the invading army.
- Antonyms:
- retain
-
to yield (oneself) without restraint or moderation; give (oneself) over to natural impulses, usually without self-control.
After the breakup, he fell apart and abandoned himself to grief.
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Law. to cast away, leave, or desert, as property or a child.
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Insurance. to relinquish (insured property) to the underwriter in case of partial loss, thus enabling the insured to claim a total loss.
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Obsolete. to banish.
noun
verb
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to forsake completely; desert; leave behind
to abandon a baby
drivers had to abandon their cars
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the order given to the crew of a ship that is about to sink to take to the lifeboats
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to give up completely
to abandon a habit
to abandon hope
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to yield control of or concern in; relinquish
to abandon office
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to give up (something begun) before completion
to abandon a job
the game was abandoned
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to surrender (oneself) to emotion without restraint
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to give (insured property that has suffered partial loss or damage) to the insurers in order that a claim for a total loss may be made
noun
Synonym Usage
See desert 2. Abandon, relinquish, renounce mean to give up all concern in something. Abandon means to give up or discontinue any further interest in something because of discouragement, weariness, distaste, or the like: to abandon one's efforts. Relinquish implies being or feeling compelled to give up something one would prefer to keep: to relinquish a long-cherished desire. Renounce implies making (and perhaps formally stating) a voluntary decision to give something up: to renounce worldly pleasures.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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abandonsimple
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abandonssimple
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have abandonedperfect
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has abandonedperfect
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am abandoningprogressive
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are abandoningprogressive
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is abandoningprogressive
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have been abandoningperfect progressive
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has been abandoningperfect progressive
Past
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abandonedsimple
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had abandonedperfect
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was abandoningprogressive
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were abandoningprogressive
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had been abandoningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of abandon
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English verb abando(u)nen, from Middle French abandoner, from Old French (mettre) a bandon “(put) under (someone's) jurisdiction,” equivalent to a “at, to” (from Latin ad; see ad-) + bandon, from Germanic band (unrecorded); see bond 1; noun derivative of the verb
Explanation
To abandon something is to give it up completely. If you’re in a cabin and a forest fire approaches, you’d better get in your car and abandon your cabin, or else be prepared to abandon your life. If you abandon something, you let it go, so when you describe someone as "acting with abandon," it means they have let go of restrictions or inhibitions. Maybe you like to dance with abandon in the privacy of your own room. But abandon could also mean people have abandoned their senses. To "drive with abandon," for example, means to drive recklessly.
Vocabulary lists containing abandon
Vocabulary from the Introduction to "Reality is Broken" by Jane McGonigal
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"The Perils of Indifference," Vocabulary from the speech
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"The Story of an Hour"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"Those who could, got out," he said, adding that he saw the captain among the first to abandon ship "without organising anything".
From Barron's ● Aug. 30, 2026
The decision to abandon play an hour before scheduled at the end of the third day of England's second Test against Pakistan was called "a joke" by Nasser Hussain.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
Invenergy will get $765 million to abandon four leases including one off Morro Bay, and RWE struck a deal for $1.22 billion to cancel leases including one near Humboldt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
Section 301 allows a president to tariff as a targeted economic diplomacy measure to induce a foreign government to abandon a particular practice.
From Slate ● Aug. 27, 2026
In war, military leaders will sometimes strategically abandon all efforts to defend a city when it’s clear that they will lose.
From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly
Even if Warsh’s Fed abandons that level of transparency, the minutes will still be useful for investors, according to Englander.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026
She abandons her academic and career ambitions, takes a job as a court interpreter, and marries Michael, an affable nurse who has little idea of her emotional burdens.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
The possibility of him suiting up in Wolverine yellow, sorry, maize and blue makes me want to sign onto the next Artemis mission, so long as it abandons me on Pluto.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026
"No farming community abandons fields and homes lightly," says archaeologist and co-first author Ramiro Barberena, a researcher at CONICET.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 21, 2026
Like a child touched by tragedy, who grows up suddenly and abandons his playthings, Chacko dumped his toys.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
While regular mining continues in parts, there are also hundreds of abandoned shafts along the main gold reef.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
The one tax base that isn’t mobile is land, but even land, if too heavily taxed, will be abandoned rather than being developed.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Eventually John meets his fate by falling through a portal into an abandoned mall, then following signs directing him to a manager’s office hidden in its bowels.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
Homeless encampments, piles of trash, vermin, and car break-ins have bedeviled the 4000 block of Babcock Avenue in Studio City since the property was abandoned, said neighbor Clint Ledsworth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
“Hidden in plain sight,” I muttered as I yanked the fifth and final one off the concrete wall of the Revere Building and carefully tucked it inside the backpack I’d found abandoned on the playground.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Some retailers began abandoning certain product lines after grappling with product shortages and overstocks during the pandemic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Americans are abandoning the belief that smarts and effort are the best ways to get ahead in life, according to new research, underscoring the pessimism many people have about their chances at financial success.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 28, 2026
The blaze began on Sunday 9 August when a van caught fire on the A31, with 23 drivers abandoning their vehicles as the fire took hold.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
"AWS and Amazon can have a wildly successful business without its own frontier model," Jassy said on Thursday, but he denied it was abandoning the effort.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
Part of him wasn’t ready to forgive Vikus for abandoning them, either.
From "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
