abandon
/əˈbæn.dən/ verb B1- To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions.
- To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue.
- To leave behind; to desert, as in a ship, a position, or a person, typically in response to overwhelming odds or impending dangers; to forsake, in spite of a duty or responsibility. · Many baby girls have been abandoned on the streets of Beijing.· He was abandoned on the island with no one to help him.
- To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. · I hereby abandon my position as manager.
- To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.
Plural abandon · He/she/it abandons · Past abandoned · Past participle abandoned · -ing form abandoning
Verb forms
- Base form
- abandon
- He/she/it
- abandons
- Past
- abandoned
- Past participle
- abandoned
- -ing form
- abandoning
From the library
We had risen from our rocks and were turning to go home, having abandoned the hopeless chase.
Roylott then abandoned his attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran.
Stapleton had abandoned the chase and came back to us breathing hard and flushed with his exertions.
It is my experience that it is only an amiable man in this world who receives testimonials, only an unambitious one who abandons a London career for the country, and only an absent-minded one who leaves his stick and not his visiting-card after waiting an hour in your room.”
Other matches
Learn abandon in real texts
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