abandon

Syllables: aban·donUK/əˈbæn.dən/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/əˈban.dən/

abandon verb: to give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions.

Verb

abandon (third-person singular simple present abandons, present participle abandoning, simple past and past participle abandoned)

(transitive) To give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions.
- […] he abandoned himself […] to his favourite vice.1856, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II. Volume 3, page 312
(transitive) To desist in doing, practicing, following, holding, or adhering to; to turn away from; to permit to lapse; to renounce; to discontinue.
- 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.2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19
(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.
(obsolete, transitive) To subdue; to take control of.
(obsolete, transitive) To cast out; to banish; to expel; to reject.
- Being all this time abandoned from your bed.1594, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, act I, scene ii
(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.
(transitive) To surrender to the insurer (an insured item), so as to claim a total loss.

Noun

abandon (countable and uncountable, plural abandons)

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
- The Italian painters have an abandon in their chiar' oscuro which mellows up their flesh tints in a way that no other school can imitate : the frigidity of their outline is another remarkable feature, and the harmony of their impasto is unique.1846, The New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register, page 453
Synonyms:

wantonness, unrestraint, libertinism, abandonment, profligacy, unconstraint
(obsolete) Abandonment; relinquishment.

abandon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

abandon in Hindi

to give up control of, surrender: छोड़ देना choṛ denā, त्यागना tyāgnā, छोड़ना choṛnā
to leave behind or desert; to forsake: छोड़ देना choṛ denā, परित्यागना parityāgnā, त्याग देना tyāg denā
to no longer exercise a right, relinquish a claim to property: परित्यागना parityāgnā, त्याग देना tyāg denā

abandon in Tamil

to give up control of, surrender: கைவிடு kaiviṭu
to desist in doing, practicing or practising, following, holding, or adhering to: கைவிடு kaiviṭu
to leave behind or desert; to forsake: கைவிடு kaiviṭu
to cast out, expel, reject: வெளியேற்று veḷiyēṟṟu

abandon in Marathi

to give up control of, surrender: त्यागणे tyāgṇe, सोडून देणे soḍūn deṇe
to leave behind or desert; to forsake: त्यागणे tyāgṇe, सोडून देणे soḍūn deṇe, परित्याग करणे parityāg karṇe
to no longer exercise a right, relinquish a claim to property: परित्याग करणे parityāg karṇe

abandon in Urdu

to abandon: چھوڑ دینا choṛ denā

More languagesFewer languages

abandon in Bengali: ছেড়ে দেওয়া cheṛe deōẇa, ক্ষান্তি দেওয়া khanti deōẇa, পরিত্যাগ করা porittag kora, ছেড়ে চলে যাওয়া cheṛe cole jaōẇa
abandon in Telugu: వదులుకొను vadulukonu, విడిచిపెట్టు viḍicipeṭṭu, వదిలివేయు vadilivēyu, వదిలివెళ్ళు vadiliveḷḷu
abandon in Malayalam: ഉപേക്ഷിക്കുക, നിയന്ത്രണമില്ലാതെ വഴങ്ങിക്കൊടുക്കുക, പിൻ‌വാങ്ങുക, ഇകഴുക
abandon in Kannada: ತ್ಯಜಿಸು tyajisu
abandon in Odia: ଛାଡ଼ିବା chāṛibā
abandon in Sanskrit: त्यजति tyajati
abandon in Tagalog: pabayaan, iwanan
abandon in Arabic: اِنْصَرَفَ inṣarafa, يَنْصَرِفُ yanṣarifu, تَرَكَ taraka, يترك
abandon in Indonesian: mengabaikan
abandon in Persian: دست کشیدن dast kašidan, رها کردن rahâ kardan, به حال خود رها کردن be hâl xud rahâ kardan, ترک کردن tarak kardan
abandon in Thai: ทิ้ง tíng, ละทิ้ง lá tíng
abandon in Vietnamese: bỏ, từ bỏ, bộm, bỏ rơi
abandon in Myanmar: ပစ် pac, စွန့် cwan.

Examples of abandon in a sentence

She abandoned her husband for a new man.
Hope was overthrown, and yet could not be abandoned.1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening, page 3:
I envy those chroniclers who assert with reckless but sincere abandon: 'I was there.1954, Gore Vidal, Messiah:
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.2007 November 4, David M. Halbfinger, “The City That Never Sleeps, Comatose”, in The New York Times:

All 40 example sentences with abandon

Synonyms of abandon

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

Antonyms

10 more antonymsFewer antonyms

All synonyms and antonyms of abandon

Forms of abandon

Verb
third-person singular present	abandons
present participle	abandoning
past participle	abandoned
past	abandoned
second-person singular present (archaic)	abandonest
second-person singular past (archaic)	abandonedst
third-person singular present (archaic)	abandoneth
Noun
plural	abandons

Past tense of abandon: abandoned

Origin of abandon

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. Compare typologically abdicate, Russian отказа́ться (otkazátʹsja) (akin to приказа́ть (prikazátʹ), сказа́ть (skazátʹ), указа́ть (ukazátʹ)).

From Middle English abandoun, from Old French abandon, from Old French abondonner.

Words formed from abandon

Phrases with abandon

Questions about abandon

What does abandon mean?: Abandon means to give up or relinquish control of, to surrender or to give oneself over, or to yield to one's emotions.
What is abandon in Hindi?: Abandon in Hindi is छोड़ देना (choṛ denā), त्यागना (tyāgnā), छोड़ना (choṛnā). See Abandon meaning in Hindi.
How do you use abandon in a sentence?: She abandoned her husband for a new man.
What part of speech is abandon?: Abandon can be a verb or a noun.
How do you pronounce abandon?: Abandon is pronounced /əˈbæn.dən/ (UK).
What is the past tense of abandon?: The past tense of abandon is abandoned.

Words near abandon in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: abandon (page history and authors); چھوڑ دینا (Urdu) (page history and authors); abandon (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ತ್ಯಜಿಸು (Kannada) (page history and authors); ଛାଡ଼ିବା (Odia) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-abandon.ogg, en-ca-abandon.ogg.

Cite this entry: “abandon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/abandon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.