abandon
pronunciation
How to pronounce abandon in British English:
UK [əˈbændən]
How to pronounce abandon in American English:
US [əˈbændən]
-
- Noun:
- the trait of lacking restraint or control; freedom from inhibition or worry
- a feeling of extreme emotional intensity
-
- Verb:
- forsake, leave behind
- stop maintaining or insisting on; of ideas, claims, etc.
- give up with the intent of never claiming again
- leave behind empty; move out of
- leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch
Word Origin
- abandon
- abandon: [14] The Old French verb abandoner is the source of abandon. It was based on a bandon, meaning literally ‘under control or jurisdiction’, which was used in the phrase mettre a bandon ‘put someone under someone else’s control’ – hence ‘abandon them’. The word bandon came, in altered form, from Latin bannum ‘proclamation’, which is circuitously related to English banns ‘proclamation of marriage’ and is an ancestor of contraband.=> banns, contraband
- abandon (v.)
- late 14c., "to give up, surrender (oneself or something), give over utterly; to yield (oneself) utterly (to religion, fornication, etc.)," from Old French abandoner (12c.), from adverbial phrase à bandon "at will, at discretion," from à "at, to" (see ad-) + bandon "power, jurisdiction," from Latin bannum, "proclamation," from a Frankish word related to ban (v.). Mettre sa forest à bandon was a feudal law phrase in the 13th cent. = mettre sa forêt à permission, i.e. to open it freely to any one for pasture or to cut wood in; hence the later sense of giving up one's rights for a time, letting go, leaving, abandoning. [Auguste Brachet, "An Etymological Dictionary of the French Language," transl. G.W. Kitchin, Oxford, 1878] Etymologically, the word carries a sense of "put someone under someone else's control." Meaning "to give up absolutely" is from late 14c. Related: Abandoned; abandoning.
- abandon (n.)
- "a letting loose, surrender to natural impulses," 1822, from a sense in French abandon (see abandon (v.). Borrowed earlier (c. 1400) from French in a sense "(someone's) control;" and compare Middle English adverbial phrase at abandon, i.e. "recklessly," attested from late 14c.
Example
- 1. Certainly to forgive we must abandon thoughts of resentment and revenge .
- 2. He is the highest-ranking official yet to abandon the regime .
- 3. Mr draghi should abandon such demands and promise to facilitate an orderly default .
- 4. Should we abandon the roaring genre ?
- 5. We simply cannot abandon either country .