What Does Abandon Mean? From Walking Away to Dancing With Abandon
To abandon something is to leave it behind for good, usually when you had a duty to stay. As a noun, abandon is the opposite: behaving with no restraint at all.
To abandon something is to leave it and not come back. The word carries a weight that *leave* does not: you abandon a car, a plan, a post or a person you were supposed to look after. There is always an obligation being dropped.
The noun is stranger. With abandon means with complete freedom from restraint — dancing, spending or laughing with no thought for what anyone thinks. Same word, opposite mood.
The main senses
- To leave behind permanently. *They abandoned the house after the flood.*
- To give up a plan or effort. *The search was abandoned at nightfall.*
- To desert someone in your care. *He was accused of abandoning his crew.*
- To surrender yourself to something. *She abandoned herself to the music.*
- Total lack of restraint (noun). *They sang with complete abandon.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb (base) | abandon | Do not abandon the car here. |
| Verb (past) | abandoned | The project was abandoned in March. |
| Verb (-ing) | abandoning | Abandoning ship is the last resort. |
| Noun | abandon | He ate with reckless abandon. |
| Noun (act of) | abandonment | Abandonment of the site took two days. |
| Adjective | abandoned | An abandoned factory. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The crew abandoned ship twenty minutes before it sank.The oldest and most literal use.
- We abandoned the idea once we saw the price.To give up on a plan.
- The kitten had been abandoned in a cardboard box.Left by someone who had a duty of care.
- She threw herself into the work with abandon.The noun: without holding anything back.
- Abandoned buildings attract two things: pigeons and photographers.The adjective.
Abandon, leave, desert and quit
- Leave is neutral. You leave a room, a job, a message.
- Abandon adds failure of duty. Leaving a post is ordinary; abandoning it is not.
- Desert is stronger still and usually deliberate, with military overtones.
- Quit is about stopping an activity rather than leaving a thing behind.
Where the word comes from
It comes from Old French *a bandon*, meaning at one's own discretion, under one's own control. Something *left a bandon* was left to whoever wanted it — surrendered to the world. That is why the same root produced both the abandoned car and the dancer moving with abandon: both have been given over completely.
Is abandon a noun or a verb?
Both. The verb means to leave something permanently; the noun means a total lack of restraint, almost always in the phrase *with abandon*.
What is the difference between abandon and abandonment?
Abandonment is the act or state of abandoning something, used mostly in legal and formal English: *child abandonment*, *abandonment of the property*.
Can you abandon a feeling?
Yes, in the sense of giving it up: *she abandoned all hope*. The construction is common in older writing and still perfectly natural.