- abandon
- I UK [əˈbændən] / US
verb [transitive]
Word forms "abandon":
present tense I/you/we/they abandon he/she/it abandons present participle abandoning past tense abandoned past participle abandoned
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1)a) to leave someone when you should stay with them and look after themHis mother abandoned him when he was five days old.
b) informal to suddenly leave someone that you are withI'm sorry I abandoned you like that.
2) to leave a place, especially because it is difficult or dangerous to stay thereMost of the villagers have abandoned their homes and fled.
The coastal settlements were abandoned in the 19th century.
3) to leave something in a place, especially because you are in a hurry or are trying to escapeThe stolen car was abandoned only five miles away.
4)a) to stop something that you are doing or planning to do, especially because it is too difficult to continueAfter 20 lessons I finally abandoned my attempt to learn to drive.
The game had to be abandoned because of rain.
George almost persuaded me to abandon my studies and join him.
b) to stop behaving or talking in a particular way, because it does not help you to achieve what you wantabandon all/any pretence (= stop trying to pretend something):She abandoned caution and began scrambling down the cliff.
By 1978, they had abandoned all pretence of democratic principles.
5) to stop supporting or helping someoneHardy felt that he had been abandoned by all his followers.
6) to stop believing or supporting an ideaDespite current problems, they have not abandoned their commitment to the peace process.
By this time, the steady state theory of the universe had been largely abandoned.
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Collocations:
Nouns frequently used as objects of abandon
▪ belief, claim, commitment, concept, idea, policy, principleabandon (all) hope
— to stop believing or hoping that something will happenThe family had abandoned all hope of finding him alive.
Derived word:
abandonment
UK / US noun uncountable
II UK [əˈbændən] / US noun
English dictionary. 2014.
