abandonments

Noun

abandonment (countable and uncountable, plural abandonments)

1. The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment.
   • To what are we reserved? An adequate compensation "for the sacrifice of powers the most nearly connected with us;"— an adequate compensation "for the direct or indirect annexation to France ot all the ports of the continent, from Dunkirk to Hamburgh;"— an adequate compensation "for the abandonment...1790-1800, Edmund Burke, Letters on a Regicide Peace
2. The voluntary leaving of a person to whom one is bound by a special relation, as a wife, husband or child; desertion.
   • Since he left her, she's suing him for divorce on grounds of abandonment.
3. An abandoned building or structure.
   • High-profile abandonments are harder to infiltrate for urban explorers due to their heightened security.
4. The relinquishment of a right, claim, or privilege; relinquishment of right to secure a patent by an inventor; relinquishment of copyright by an author.
5. The relinquishment by the insured to the underwriters of what may remain of the property insured after a loss or damage by a peril insured against.
6. The cessation of service on a particular segment of the lines of a common carrier, as granted by a government agency.
   • The railway was in fact shifted in 1937 a little to the west, over a distance of a quarter-mile, to make room for the by-pass at this point, but complete abandonment was firmly vetoed because of the proved strategic value of the line.1955 March, T. B. Sands, “The Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway—2”, in Railway Magazine, page 191

See all 9 meanings of abandonment