abandon
Americanverb (used with object)
-
abandons,
present (3rd person singular)
-
abandoned,
past participle, past
-
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:
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
It has survived wars and upheavals, but the famed handwoven Kashmir carpet industry is now battling a steady decline as younger generations abandon the painstaking craft.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
But demanding more should lead us to negotiate better projects, not abandon them altogether.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
The bigger risk may not be that Indians suddenly abandon UPI because a large retailer is charged a fraction of a percentage point: experts say its network effects are now too powerful for that.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Now more than ever I felt I couldn’t abandon them.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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
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
"If the US abandons its standards, we aren't 'saving' the American auto industry; we are leaving it on an island of obsolete technology," Oge wrote in Forbes.
From BBC ● Feb. 13, 2026
She abandons the cards and turns to something else instead.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
The program is rooted in a childhood of poverty and illiteracy — roots that those who knew Parton said she never denied or abandoned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
The game resumed despite the injuries to the fans, but it would have been abandoned had a player or match official been hit.
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
Equinor recently abandoned its target to install 10 to 12 gigawatts of renewable power by 2030.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Research led by Professor Carl Sayer at UCL Geography has found that abandoned farmland can recover naturally and develop into a diverse wildflower meadow, raising questions about some conventional methods used in habitat restoration.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026
And there it was, the reason Clara’s ordinary good sense had and would always be abandoned when it came to him.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
That means that if the availability of electricity comes into question, abandoning old chips may become a no-brainer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
According to one former CIA officer, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, the group is one of the few institutions in Cuba's government with an interest in abandoning the decades-old communist economic model.
From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026
With dinner already half-imagined, I could pass the tomatoes and melons without treating each one as an alternate future I might regret abandoning.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
That doesn't necessarily mean abandoning it but it needs to be refined more so its purpose is immediately understandable, she says.
From BBC ● Jul. 29, 2026
But evacuating meant abandoning their plans to search through the rubble for loved ones who might still be alive.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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.
