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) 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]
    • 1856, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II. Volume 3, page 312:
      […] he abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice.
  2. (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.
  3. (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.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To subdue; to take control of. [Attested from around (1350 to 1470) until the mid 16th century.][1]
  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* abandoned, abandonedst*
3rd-person singular abandons, abandoneth* abandoned
plural abandon
subjunctive abandon
imperative abandon —
participles abandoning abandoned
* Archaic or obsolete.
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
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 “abandon” in Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2002, →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]

From Old French (mettre) a bandon ("to deliver, place at someone's disposition", literally "to place in someone's power"). Gamillscheg suggests a derivation from a ban donner, but the Trésor de la langue française considers this unlikely, as the phrase is not attested.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

abandon m (plural abandons)

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

Derived terms[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Friulian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun[edit]

abandon m (plural abandons)

  1. abandonment

References[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old French abandon.

Adverb[edit]

abandon

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

References[edit]

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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