Word.ws English Dictionary

leaving someone in the lurch

leaving someone in the lurch is the present participle and gerund of leave someone in the lurch.

Meaning of leave someone in the lurch

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To abandon somebody; especially, to abandon somebody and leave them in a difficult situation.
    • He left me in the lurch and I had to finish the whole project by myself.

Questions about leaving someone in the lurch

What is leaving someone in the lurch the present participle and gerund of?
Leaving someone in the lurch is the present participle and gerund of leave someone in the lurch.

Words near leaving someone in the lurch in the dictionary

  1. leaving someone cold
  2. leaving someone hanging
  3. leaving someone high and dry
  4. leaving someone holding the baby
  5. leaving someone in the dust
  6. leaving someone in the lurch
  7. leaving someone no choice
  8. leaving someone on read
  9. leaving someone on seen
  10. leaving someone out in the cold
  11. leaving someone to their fate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: leaving someone in the lurch (page history and authors); leave someone in the lurch (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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