abandon
Americanverb (used with object)
-
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.
-
Law. to cast away, leave, or desert, as property or a child.
-
Insurance. to relinquish (insured property) to the underwriter in case of partial loss, thus enabling the insured to claim a total loss.
-
Obsolete. to banish.
noun
verb
-
to forsake completely; desert; leave behind
to abandon a baby
drivers had to abandon their cars
-
the order given to the crew of a ship that is about to sink to take to the lifeboats
-
to give up completely
to abandon a habit
to abandon hope
-
to yield control of or concern in; relinquish
to abandon office
-
to give up (something begun) before completion
to abandon a job
the game was abandoned
-
to surrender (oneself) to emotion without restraint
-
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
Related Words
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
- abandonable adjective
- abandoner noun
- abandonment noun
- unabandoning adjective
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; ad- ) + bandon, from Germanic band (unrecorded); bond 1; noun derivative of the verb
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.
But inside the ruins of a mosque, a restoration crew is hard at work rebuilding this piece of Suakin, over a century after the city was abandoned.
From Barron's
But holding on can be excruciating when everyone else is abandoning ship.
In Pavlohrad, about 40 miles from the front, we found families dazed after evacuating, abandoning everything, with no idea whether they'll ever go back.
From BBC
The canine, called Floyd, appears to be thriving on The Rock - renowned for its abandoned prison - and getting by on an avian diet.
From BBC
Warsh believes monetary policy should involve analysis of the size of the money supply, an economic philosophy long ago abandoned by the Fed on the grounds it doesn’t predict changes in interest rates.
From Barron's
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.
