abandon

abandon — verb

1. to go away from a place, an object, or a person and have no plan to come back, o

1.verbtransitiveB2
Definition

to go away from a place, an object, or a person and have no plan to come back, often because staying is no longer possible or because you stop caring about what you leave.

Example

The crew had to abandon the ship after a fire broke out below deck.

abandon + ship/vehicle in danger

Noa abandoned his old car at the side of the highway when the engine died.

Common collocations
  • abandon ship
  • abandon a vehicle
  • abandon a baby
  • leave abandoned
Synonyms
  • desert

    stronger sense of betrayal, often of duty or people who depend on you

  • leave

    neutral and general; 'abandon' adds the idea of finality and no return

  • forsake

    literary or formal; carries a moral weight of breaking ties

Antonyms
  • keep

    to hold on to a thing or place rather than leave it

  • retain

    more formal; to continue to have or hold something

Grammar Patterns

abandon + noun (place/person/thing)

Usage Note

Object is usually a place, vehicle, or a dependent person. Often passive when the focus is the thing or person left behind, as in 'the car was abandoned'.

Common Mistakes

He abandoned from his hometown last year.
He abandoned his hometown last year.
'abandon' is transitive and takes a direct object without a preposition.
The dog was abandon in the park.
The dog was abandoned in the park.
use the past participle 'abandoned' in passive forms.

2. to stop working on a plan, idea, or activity, or to stop holding a belief or pri

2.verbtransitiveC1
Definition

to stop working on a plan, idea, or activity, or to stop holding a belief or principle, with no intention of returning to it later.

Example

The team abandoned the project after their main sponsor pulled out.

abandon + project/plan

Heavy rain forced the umpires to abandon the cricket match before tea.

abandon + match/game

Common collocations
  • abandon a plan
  • abandon a project
  • abandon hope
  • abandon an attempt
  • abandon the idea
Synonyms
  • give up

    more informal and conversational; same core meaning

  • drop

    informal; suggests a quicker, less weighty decision

  • discard

    best for ideas or theories you no longer hold

  • scrap

    informal; usually for plans or projects judged not worth continuing

Antonyms
  • continue

    to keep doing the activity rather than stopping

  • pursue

    more formal; to actively work towards a plan or goal

Grammar Patterns

abandon + noun (plan/idea/effort)

Usage Note

Object is typically an abstract noun: a plan, project, idea, hope, principle, or activity in progress. Distinguish from sense 1, where the object is a physical place, vehicle, or a person.

Common Mistakes

They abandoned to study English after one month.
They abandoned their English studies after one month.
use a noun object, not 'to + verb'.
She abandoned doing her homework.
She gave up doing her homework.
'abandon' rarely takes an -ing form in everyday English; prefer 'give up' for that pattern.

3. to let a strong emotion, or a whole style of living, take full control of you so

3.verbtransitiveC2
Definition

to let a strong emotion, or a whole style of living, take full control of you so that you stop holding back — for example, throwing yourself into grief, joy, or pleasure without any restraint.

Example

On the dance floor, Lucia abandoned herself to the rhythm and forgot the long week.

abandon oneself to + noun

After the funeral, he abandoned himself to grief for several silent weeks.

abandon oneself to grief/sorrow

Common collocations
  • abandon oneself to grief
  • abandon oneself to pleasure
  • abandon oneself to a life of
Synonyms
  • surrender

    near synonym; often 'surrender oneself to'

  • yield

    more formal and abstract; suggests stopping resistance

  • indulge

    indulge in + activity; less total than 'abandon oneself'

Antonyms
  • restrain

    to hold back a feeling rather than let it take over

  • resist

    to actively fight against a feeling or temptation

Grammar Patterns

abandon oneself to + noun

Usage Note

Almost always reflexive: 'abandon yourself / himself / themselves to' a feeling or way of life. Belongs to a literary or formal register; rarely heard in everyday speech.

Common Mistakes

She abandoned to joy when she heard the news.
She abandoned herself to joy when she heard the news.
this sense needs a reflexive pronoun.
He abandoned in pleasure all evening.
He abandoned himself to pleasure all evening.
the preposition is 'to', not 'in'.

abandon — noun

Word family

  • abandoned
    adjectiveB2
  • abandonment
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: verb/1

All four words describe going away from someone or something, but they differ in tone and weight. 'Leave' is the neutral everyday choice and says nothing about whether you plan to return: 'I left my bag at school.' 'Abandon' adds the idea of finality and often of not caring what happens next, which is why we say 'abandon ship', 'abandon a car', or 'abandon a baby'. 'Desert' is heavier still and almost always carries blame: a soldier deserts his post, a partner deserts a family. 'Forsake' is literary and rare in modern speech; you meet it in wedding vows ('forsaking all others') or older novels, where the focus is on giving up close ties for moral or emotional reasons. So a tourist might leave a hotel, but only a captain abandons a sinking ferry, and only a parent forsakes a child.

abandon ↗desert ↗leaveforsake

Common collocations

Nouns

  • abandon ship
  • abandon a plan
  • abandon a project
  • abandon hope
  • abandon a baby
  • abandon a car

Adverbs

  • completely abandon
  • totally abandon
  • quickly abandon
  • later abandoned
  • long abandoned

Phrases

  • abandon all hope
  • abandon ship
  • with reckless abandon
  • with wild abandon

Prepositions

  • abandon to (its fate)
  • abandon for
  • with abandon

Etymology

Old FrenchMiddle EnglishModern English

'Abandon' came into English in the late 14th century from Old French 'abandoner', meaning to give up or surrender something to another's control. The Old French verb itself grew from the phrase 'a bandon', literally 'into the power of', where 'bandon' meant authority or control (related to modern 'ban'). The earliest English sense was 'to give over to someone else's power'; from there it shifted towards leaving people or things behind, and later to giving up plans or feelings. The noun, found in English from the early 17th century, kept the older flavour of 'letting go of all control' — which is why we still say 'with abandon'.