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. )

Example Sentences

In childhood Agathe was her sister’s caretaker, but at 15 she abruptly left for the United States, a claim for freedom that Agathe also recognizes as an abandonment.

From The Wall Street Journal

Mr Brannan suggested the likely reason for its abandonment was that the cast and crew did not have the time or availability to record it.

From BBC

Dr Kaye says it's important to remember "the goal isn't to be perfect, it's to avoid turning one moment into a full abandonment of the plan".

From BBC

She said Nike is likely to prevail because letting a registration lapse isn’t necessarily evidence of abandonment.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Bronze Age in the area may have been a "time of particular stress" as other burial sites in the region show evidence of famine and abandonment.

From BBC

Related Words

• renunciation