Definition of "abandon" in English

verb

1. (transitive) To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions.

2. (transitive) To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue.

3. (transitive) 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.
   • She abandoned her husband for a new man.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To subdue; to take control of.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject.

6. (transitive) 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.

7. (transitive) To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.

noun

1. A yielding to natural impulses or inhibitions; freedom from artificial constraint, with loss of appreciation of consequences. (Now especially in the phrase with abandon.)

   • with gay abandon, with wild abandon

2. (obsolete) Abandonment; relinquishment.