abandoned

[ uh-ban-duhnd ]

adjective

1. forsaken or deserted:

   an abandoned building; an abandoned kitten.

2. unrestrained or uncontrolled; uninhibited:

   She danced with abandoned enthusiasm.

3. utterly lacking in moral restraints; shameless; wicked:

   an abandoned and dissolute ruler.

abandoned

/ əˈbændənd /

adjective

1. deserted

   an abandoned windmill

2. forsaken

   an abandoned child

3. unrestrained; uninhibited

   wild, abandoned dancing

4. depraved; profligate

Other Words From

• a·bandoned·ly adverb
• half-a·bandoned adjective
• una·bandoned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of abandoned¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English; abandon + -ed ²

Synonym Study

See immoral.

Example Sentences

The abandoned and active coal mines that run through eastern Kentucky make it one of the areas that stands to benefit.

From Vox

But because they are not forgotten, they cannot completely be abandoned.

From The Daily Beast

He said he spent his time doing “Mickey Mouse make-work,” digging though old records for long-abandoned well sites.

From The Daily Beast

He asks why non-believers like himself are abandoned by the world.

From The Daily Beast

She became a schoolteacher, but, as war erupted, began taking in kids abandoned or orphaned by the conflict.

From The Daily Beast

It, too, soon abandoned the mission, finding it both logistically and financially impossible.

From The Daily Beast

He breathed fierce and honest anathema on the heads of the bowelless fiends who had abandoned the babe to its doom.

From Project Gutenberg

The paper and the poker are abandoned, chairs are drawn towards the baize-covered table.

From Project Gutenberg

French evacuated Almeida, after destroying everything, and the next day they abandoned Portugal entirely.

From Project Gutenberg

The idea was seriously considered but, for various reasons, abandoned.

From Project Gutenberg

So the courts abandoned the rule founded on the part payment of the purchase price.

From Project Gutenberg