abandonment

[uh-ban-duhn-muhnt]

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.

Other Word Forms

• nonabandonment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of abandonment¹

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

Example Sentences

"The biggest surprise for me was that the abandonment of cities occurred under improving climatic conditions," Kennett noted.

Read more on Science Daily

One of the affected neighborhoods is Jabriyat, a wealthy area overlooking the camp that has the feel of a ghost town, where villas bear the dusty patina of abandonment.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

As is the case for Papayo's mother, the lack of closure and feeling of abandonment by the police fuels fear and terror in poor communities like Makeni.

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What’s different now, she says, is the abandonment of even that narrow framing.

Read more on Salon

He pushed for a smaller balance sheet, lower rates, and the abandonment of what he described as the Fed’s outdated belief that strong growth drives inflation.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• renunciation