abandon

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See also: Abandon and a bandon

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Verb[edit]

abandon (third-person singular simple present abandons, present participle abandoning, simple past and past participle abandoned)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To subdue; to take control of. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 16th century.][1]
  2. (transitive) To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470)][1]
    • (Can we date this quote?), Macaulay, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      He abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice.
  3. (transitive) To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470)][1]
    • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎[1], volume 188, number 23, page 19:
      In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. […]   The public realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra–wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised.
  4. (transitive) To leave behind; to desert as in a ship or a position, typically in response to overwhelming odds or impending dangers; to forsake, in spite of a duty or responsibility. [First attested in the late 15th century.][1]
    Many baby girls have been abandoned on the streets of Beijing.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject. [Attested from the mid 16th century until the mid 17th century.][1]
  6. (transitive) To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. [First attested in the mid 18th century.][1]
  7. (transitive) To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.
Conjugation[edit]
Conjugation of abandon
infinitive (to) abandon
present tense past tense
1st person singular abandon abandoned
2nd person singular abandon, abandonest*
3rd person singular abandons, abandoneth*
plural abandon
subjunctive abandon
imperative abandon —
participles abandoning abandoned
* Archaic or obsolete.
Synonyms[edit]
synonyms of "abandon"
Antonyms[edit]
Antonyms for "abandon"
Derived terms[edit]
terms derived from "abandon"
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

abandon (countable and uncountable, plural abandons)

  1. A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences. [Early 19th century.][1][3]
    • 1954, Gore Vidal, Messiah:
      I envy those chroniclers who assert with reckless but sincere abandon: 'I was there. I saw it happen. It happened thus.'
    • 2007 November 4, David M. Halbfinger, “The City That Never Sleeps, Comatose”, in The New York Times‎[3]:
      They needed to have an abandon in their performance that you just can’t get out of people in the middle of the night when they’re barefoot.
  2. (obsolete) abandonment; relinquishment.
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], →ISBN), page 2
  2. ^ “abandon” in Christine A. Lindberg, editor, The Oxford College Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Spark Publishing, 2002, →ISBN, page 1.
  3. ^ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 2.

French[edit]

Etymology[edit]

EB1911 - Volume 01 - Page 001 - 1.svg This entry lacks etymological information. If you are familiar with the origin of this term, please add it to the page per etymology instructions. You can also discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

abandon m (plural abandons)

  1. surrender
  2. abandonment
  3. (uncountable) complete neglect

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Adverb[edit]

abandon

  1. (not comparable) Freely; entirely.
    • 1330, Arthour and Merlin:
      His ribbes and scholder fel adoun,/Men might se the liver abandoun.

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from French abandon.

Noun[edit]

abandon n (plural abandonuri)

  1. abandonment
  2. renouncement

Declension[edit]

declension of abandon
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) abandon abandonul (niște) abandonuri abandonurile
genitive/dative (unui) abandon abandonului (unor) abandonuri abandonurilor
vocative abandonule abandonurilor

Related terms[edit]

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