abandon — OAT

abandon

verb

1 the party has abandoned policies which made it unelectable:

renounce, relinquish, dispense with, forswear, disclaim, disown, disavow, discard, wash one's hands of;

give up, drop, do away with, jettison;

informal ditch, scrap, scrub, axe, junk.

▷antonyms keep, claim.

2 by that stage, she had abandoned painting:

give up, stop, cease, drop, forgo, desist from, have done with, abjure, abstain from, discontinue, break off, refrain from, set/lay aside;

informal cut out, kick, jack in, pack in, quit.

▷antonyms continue; take up.

3 he abandoned his wife and children:

desert, leave, leave high and dry, turn one's back on, cast aside, break (up) with;

jilt, strand, leave stranded, leave in the lurch, throw over;

informal run/walk out on, dump, ditch;

British, informal give someone the push, give someone the big E, bin off;

archaic forsake.

▷antonyms stick by.

4 the skipper gave the order to abandon ship:

vacate, leave, quit, evacuate, withdraw from.

5 an attempt to persuade businesses not to abandon the area to inner-city deprivation:

relinquish, surrender, give up, cede, yield, leave.

6 she abandoned herself to the sensuousness of the music:

indulge in, give way to, give oneself up to, yield to, lose oneself to/in.

▷antonyms control oneself.

noun

reckless abandon:

uninhibitedness, recklessness, lack of restraint, lack of inhibition, unruliness, wildness, impulsiveness, impetuosity, immoderation, wantonness.

▷antonyms self-control.