abandonment

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment.
  2. The voluntary leaving of a person to whom one is bound by a special relation, as a wife, husband or child; desertion.
  3. An abandoned building or structure.
  4. The relinquishment of a right, claim, or privilege; relinquishment of right to secure a patent by an inventor; relinquishment of copyright by an author.
  5. The relinquishment by the insured to the underwriters of what may remain of the property insured after a loss or damage by a peril insured against.
  6. The cessation of service on a particular segment of the lines of a common carrier, as granted by a government agency.
  7. A refusal to receive freight so damaged in transit as to be worthless and render carrier liable for its value.
  8. The self-surrender to an outside influence.
  9. Abandon; careless freedom or ease; surrender to one's emotions.

Pronunciation

/əˈbæn.d(ə)n.m(ə)nt/ en-us-abandonment.ogg /əˈbeə̯n.d(ə)n.m(ə)nt/ /əˈbɛə̯n.d(ə)n.m(ə)nt/

Word forms

abandonment abandonments

Etymology

Borrowed from French abandonnement, from abandonner (“to abandon, relinquish”). abandonner was originally equivalent to mettre à bandon (“to leave to the jurisdiction, i.e. of another”), bandon being from Medieval Latin bandum, bannum (“order, decree, ban”). Equivalent to abandon + -ment. (See also English banns.)

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