abandon
To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions.
Verb 4 meanings
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.”
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.”
Noun 1 meaning
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, with reckless abandon”
Etymology
From Middle English abandounen, from Old French abandoner, formed from a (“at, to”) + bandon (“jurisdiction, control”), from Late Latin bannum (“proclamation”), bannus, bandum, from Frankish *ban, *bann, from Proto-Germanic *bannaną (“to proclaim, command”) (whence English ban), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to speak”).
Similar and opposite words
ABANDON at a glance
ABANDON has 7 letters and scores 10 points in Scrabble (A 1 + B 3 + A 1 + N 1 + D 2 + O 1 + N 1) and 13 in Words With Friends, before board bonuses. It ranks #6,748 by how often it appears in everyday English. It is valid in ENABLE, NWL2023, Collins/SOWPODS.
Rhymes with abandon
All rhymes- PARDON9
- TENDON7
- CORDON9
- CLARENDON12
- RADON6
- MASTODON11
- UDON5
- CODON8
- CELADON10
- BOURDON10
- REDON6
- COTYLEDON15
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