abandonment

American  

[uh-ban-duhn-muhnt] / əˈbæn dən mənt /

noun

1. an act or instance of leaving a person or thing permanently and completely.

   He struggles to deal with his abandonment by his wife, and now having to care for their infant alone.

2. an act or instance of permanently setting aside a principle, discontinuing an activity, etc..

   I believe in the struggle for radical social change, but it must be accompanied by an abandonment of the notion that the end justifies the means.

3. an act or instance of giving up control of something, or of yielding to one’s impulses or to an external or spiritual force.

   No psychiatric diagnosis quite captures Hitler’s boundless will to lead, his self-deception, and his utter abandonment to evil.

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Other Word Forms

• nonabandonment
  noun

Etymology

Origin of abandonment

abandon ( def. ) + -ment ( def. )

Explanation

Abandonment is the act of getting rid of something. It’s how dogs become stray and children become orphaned. If abandonment is your greatest fear in life, make sure to surround yourself with loyal friends and treat them kindly. Abandonment, a noun meaning "relinquishment," stems from the French abandonnement and was first recorded in the early 17th century. "Life, misfortunes, isolation, abandonment, poverty, are battlefields which have their heroes; obscure heroes, sometimes greater than the illustrious heroes," said Victor Hugo. He treats a person's survival of abandonment with the utmost respect, perhaps more than that accorded survival of war or other more obvious trials.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abandonment

The abandonment of rural farmland has contributed to unmanaged forest growth, creating a large buildup of vegetation that fuels the intense fires.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026

Instead, the Backrooms provide a collectively imagined and online environment of unease, abandonment and liminality.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 26, 2026

The charity fears the abandonment could be the first of many following legislation introduced in April which requires all primates kept as pets in England to be licensed.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

But urbanisation, changing land use and the abandonment of grazing and other traditional farming practises, appear to have significantly reduced available food sources, the wildlife groups noted.

From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026

Lourdes fears that the boy is reinforcing Enrique’s sense of abandonment.

From "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario

Related Words

• renunciation