Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To withdraw one's support or help from, especially in spite of duty, allegiance, or responsibility; desert.
- transitive verb To give up by leaving or ceasing to operate or inhabit, especially as a result of danger or other impending threat.
- transitive verb To surrender one's claim to, right to, or interest in; give up entirely: synonym: relinquish.
- transitive verb To cease trying to continue; desist from.
- transitive verb To yield (oneself) completely, as to emotion.
- noun Great enthusiasm or lack of restraint.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Abandonment to naturalness of action or manner; freedom from constraint or conventionality; dash.
- To detach or withdraw one's self from; leave.
- To give up; cease to occupy one's self with; cease to use, follow, etc.: as, to
abandon an enterprise; this custom was long ago abandoned. - To resign, forego, or renounce; relinquish all concern in: as, to
abandon the cares of empire. - To relinquish the control of; yield up without restraint: as, he abandoned the city to the conqueror.
- To outlaw; banish; drive out or away.
- To reject or renounce.
- In com., to relinquish to the underwriters all claim to, as to ships or goods insured, as a preliminary toward recovering for a total loss. See
abandonment . - noun The act of giving up or relinquishing; abandonment.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A complete giving up to natural impulses; freedom from artificial constraint; careless freedom or ease.
- noun obsolete Abandonment; relinquishment.
- transitive verb obsolete To cast or drive out; to banish; to expel; to reject.
- transitive verb To give up absolutely; to forsake entirely ; to renounce utterly; to relinquish all connection with or concern on; to desert, as a person to whom one owes allegiance or fidelity; to quit; to surrender.
- transitive verb Reflexively: To give (one's self) up without attempt at self-control; to yield (one's self) unrestrainedly; -- often in a bad sense.
- transitive verb (Mar. Law) To relinquish all claim to; -- used when an insured person gives up to underwriters all claim to the property covered by a policy, which may remain after loss or damage by a peril insured against.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To surrender to the
insurer the insured item, so as to claim atotal loss . - adverb obsolete, not comparable Freely; entirely.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb forsake, leave behind
- verb leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
- verb stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas or claims
- noun the trait of lacking restraint or control; reckless freedom from inhibition or worry
- noun a feeling of extreme emotional intensity
- verb give up with the intent of never claiming again
- verb leave behind empty; move out of
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Today's employment report reminds us that spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon is no way to create more jobs, yet that is exactly what Democrats in charge of Washington have done all year long,
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"Today's employment report reminds us that spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon is no way to create more jobs, yet that is exactly what Democrats in charge of Washington have done all year long," House Minority Leader John Boehner said in a statement.
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I have many in my own extended family who would be said to have long abandoned the practice of their Faith, though sadly what they often abandon is not the Faith in its integrity, but the caricature that was passed on to them.
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The one point they will never abandon is there will be no unlimited right of return.
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"Today's employment report reminds us that spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon is no way to create more jobs, yet that is exactly what Democrats in charge of Washington have done all year long," House Minority Leader John Boehner said in a statement.
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I would like to know what Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner have been smoking or drinking to make a statement like this "Today's employment report reminds us that spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon is exactly what Democrats in charge of Washington have done all year long," For eight years the Republican spending, taxing, and borrowing with reckless abandon took a surplus into massive deficit themselfs.
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First, pursue a dirt cheap Soyuz type system; second, abandon manned spaceflight and rely on buying seats on launchers of other countries; or just plain abandon manned spaceflight.
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A merged Microsoft/Yahoo with the commitment to do search right that MS has started to demonstrate and that Google has started to abandon is going to eat their lunch in the same way that MS did it to Lotus, Novell, WordPerfect, etc … better products, better marketing, and more focus on the long term.
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This killer instinct that our neo had that caused her to fight to the death with abandon is what scared the hell out of us.
Page 2 2006
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This killer instinct that our neo had that caused her to fight to the death with abandon is what scared the hell out of us.
Page 2 2006
sionnach commented on the word abandon
"Bubbles and I just got engaged", said Michael with abandon.
October 31, 2008
bnl2709 commented on the word abandon
Concordance
November 12, 2008
sionnach commented on the word abandon
OK, bn12709, enough with the idiotic concordance linking already. If you are a person with some kind of relevant non-commercial message, then welcome to Wordie. If not, then go scatter your lexicological litter somewhere else.
November 24, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word abandon
What does this tinyurl link to? http://preview.tinyurl.com/5ppthe states "lextutor.ca" but I do not understand what lextutor is.
December 30, 2008
optionslexis commented on the word abandon
The act of not exercising or selling an option before its expiration.
April 19, 2009
Telofy commented on the word abandon
"a complete surrender to natural impulses without restraint or moderation; freedom from inhibition or conventionality: to dance with reckless abandon." – Random House
Wow. This word, this definition—I totally got goosebumps reading it.
June 21, 2009
dailyword commented on the word abandon
Artie fears that Jim will do this to him someday.
October 29, 2012