Word.ws English Dictionary

leaves the nest

leaves the nest is the third-person singular simple present indicative of leave the nest.

Meaning of leave the nest

Verb

leave the nest (third-person singular simple present leaves the nest, present participle leaving the nest, simple past and past participle left the nest)

  1. (idiomatic) To leave home; to stop living with one's parents.
    • At about the time that the last child is leaving the nest, elderly parents move to a point of needing assistance in their lives.1987, Sue Vineyard, How to Take Care of You . . . So You Can Take Care of Others, →ISBN, page 31
    Synonyms:
    fly the nest
  2. (idiomatic) To become independent; to begin to act without supervision or in ways that are not prescribed.
    • He taught, seasoned, encouraged, and broadened all of us while we were his students, and he supported us greatly after we had left the nest.2000, G. Srinivasan, From White Dwarfs to Black Holes: The Legacy of S. Chandrasekhar, →ISBN
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see leave, nest.
    • Checking nests keeps the adult birds away from the nest, exposing the eggs and chicks to cold or heat, and can cause large chicks to leave the nest prematurely.2006, Peter Ryan, Sasol Birdwatching in Southern Africa, →ISBN, page 84

Questions about leaves the nest

What is leaves the nest the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Leaves the nest is the third-person singular simple present indicative of leave the nest.

Words near leaves the nest in the dictionary

  1. leaves someone to their own devices
  2. leaves something to be desired
  3. leaves the ball in someone's court
  4. leaves the chat
  5. leaves the door open
  6. leaves the nest
  7. leaves things alone
  8. leaves things be
  9. leaves to chance
  10. leaves to the imagination
  11. leaves well alone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leaves the nest (page history and authors); leave the nest (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.

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