abandoned
Americanadjective
-
forsaken or deserted.
an abandoned building; an abandoned kitten.
-
unrestrained or uncontrolled; uninhibited.
She danced with abandoned enthusiasm.
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utterly lacking in moral restraints; shameless; wicked.
an abandoned and dissolute ruler.
adjective
-
deserted
an abandoned windmill
-
forsaken
an abandoned child
-
unrestrained; uninhibited
wild, abandoned dancing
-
depraved; profligate
Synonym Usage
See immoral.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of abandoned
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; abandon + -ed 2
Explanation
There's nothing spookier than an abandoned house that's still full of dusty, decaying furniture. When something is abandoned, it's been cast off or deserted. The adjective abandoned describes something that's been given up or discarded. You can use it to talk about a kitten abandoned at an animal shelter, an old car abandoned by the side of the road, or a person's dreams of becoming an opera singer abandoned when they had kids. It comes from the French phrase mettre a bandon, "put someone under another's control."
Vocabulary lists containing abandoned
Beowulf vocabulary
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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.
China's communist government abandoned its decades-long one-child policy in 2016, while Japan and South Korea have invested heavily in pro-natal policies with little impact.
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
Posting to X on Friday, Vance said Nowak had died "the same way a civilisation dies: abandoned and handcuffed by authorities who neither trusted nor cared for him".
From BBC • Jun. 7, 2026
“It’s just such a memorable feeling when you see such an off-putting, abandoned place,” she said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 6, 2026
Police were told by the military about the training and asked officers to provide security around the abandoned hospital months ago, a city spokesperson told The Times.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
She’d loved him, given birth to his child, and was abandoned before she turned twenty.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
