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Abandon
Definitions
- 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.) countable, uncountable
"with gay abandon, with wild abandon"
- 2 the trait of lacking restraint or control; reckless freedom from inhibition or worry wordnet
- 3 Abandonment; relinquishment. countable, obsolete, uncountable
- 4 a feeling of extreme emotional intensity wordnet
- 1 To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions. transitive
"[…] he abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice."
- 2 stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas or claims wordnet
- 3 To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue. transitive
"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 leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch wordnet
- 5 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. transitive
"Many baby girls have been abandoned on the streets of Beijing."
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- 6 leave behind empty; move out of wordnet
- 7 To subdue; to take control of. obsolete, transitive
- 8 give up with the intent of never claiming again wordnet
- 9 To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject. obsolete, transitive
"Being all this time abandoned from your bed."
- 10 forsake, leave behind wordnet
- 11 To no longer exercise a right, title, or interest, especially with no interest of reclaiming it again; to yield; to relinquish. transitive
"I hereby abandon my position as manager."
- 12 To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss. transitive
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”). See also ban, banal. Displaced Middle English forleten (“to abandon”), from Old English forlǣtan, anforlǣtan; see forlet; and Middle English forleven (“to leave behind, abandon”), from Old English forlǣfan; see forleave.
From Middle English abandoun, from Old French abandon, from Old French abondonner.
See also for "abandon"
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