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forsaken or deserted:
an abandoned building; an abandoned kitten.
unrestrained or uncontrolled; uninhibited:
She danced with abandoned enthusiasm.
utterly lacking in moral restraints; shameless; wicked:
an abandoned and dissolute ruler.
to leave completely and finally; forsake utterly; desert:
to abandon one’s farm; to abandon a child; to abandon a sinking ship.
to give up; discontinue; withdraw from:
to abandon a research project; to abandon hopes for a stage career.
to give up the control of:
to abandon a city to an enemy army.
to yield (oneself) without restraint or moderation; give (oneself) over to natural impulses, usually without self-control:
to abandon oneself to grief.
Law. to cast away, leave, or desert, as property or a child.
Insurance. to relinquish (insured property) to the underwriter in case of partial loss, thus enabling the insured to claim a total loss.
Obsolete. to banish.
Contemporary Examples

You canvassed a lot of great filmmakers in Seduced and abandoned, including Roman Polanski.
Alec Baldwin Uncensored: On His HBO Doc, Bloomberg, Polanski, and The New York Times Marlow Stern October 21, 2013

“I wanted to know what it feels like to be abandoned,” McMillan said.
All About Grandma: Terry McMillan on Her New Novel, ‘Who Asked You?’ Jane Ciabattari September 29, 2013

The smell from the guns was everywhere inside the abandoned cannery.
Eyewitness to the Firing Squad Lawrence Schiller April 24, 2010

He abandoned the effort when few of his readers followed through with it.
The Daily Currant Moves In on The Onion’s Turf David Freedlander March 11, 2013

I’m scared for all my girlfriends out here who are hooked on dope and living in abandoned houses with no protection.
The Kensington Avenue Strangler Jeff Deeney November 17, 2010

Historical Examples

All this has been said already, has been gone into, and fire at command has been abandoned.
Battle Studies Charles-Jean-Jacques-Joseph Ardant du Picq

Almost always these abandoned children are the offspring of vice.
The Dream Emile Zola

Ben Smart had not been taken, and the pursuers had abandoned the chase.
Try Again Oliver Optic

You are right, I have abandoned worldly ambitions—most of them.
Fair Margaret H. Rider Haggard

Hereford and Norfolk abandoned active in favour of passive hostility.
The History of England T.F. Tout

adjective
deserted: an abandoned windmill
forsaken: an abandoned child
unrestrained; uninhibited: wild, abandoned dancing
depraved; profligate
verb (transitive)
to forsake completely; desert; leave behind: to abandon a baby, drivers had to abandon their cars
abandon ship, the order given to the crew of a ship that is about to sink to take to the lifeboats
to give up completely: to abandon a habit, to abandon hope
to yield control of or concern in; relinquish: to abandon office
to give up (something begun) before completion: to abandon a job, the game was abandoned
to surrender (oneself) to emotion without restraint
to give (insured property that has suffered partial loss or damage) to the insurers in order that a claim for a total loss may be made
noun
freedom from inhibitions, restraint, concern, or worry: she danced with abandon
adj.

“self-devoted” to some purpose (usually evil), late 14c., past participle adjective from abandon (v.).
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.

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 cf. Middle English adverbial phrase at abandon, i.e. “recklessly,” attested from late 14c.