relinquish
/ɹɪˈlɪŋkwɪʃ/ verb
Forms relinquishes relinquishing relinquished
- verb (transitive) To give up, abandon or retire from something; to trade away. “to relinquish a title”
- verb (transitive) To let go (free, away), physically release.
- verb (transitive) To metaphorically surrender, yield control or possession.
- verb (transitive) To accept to give up, withdraw etc. “The delegations saved the negotiations by relinquishing their incompatible claims to sole jurisdiction.”
Synonyms
release resign free give up waive forgo forego foreswear dispense with renounce quit let go of let go
Etymology
From Middle English relinquisshen, from the inflected stem relinquiss- of Middle French relinquir, from Latin relinquere, itself from re- + linquere (“to leave”).
Compare also Sanskrit रिणक्ति (riṇakti, “to leave”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To withdraw from; to leave behind; to desist from; to abandon; to quit; as, to relinquish a pursuit.
- verb To give up; to renounce a claim to; resign; as, to relinquish a debt.
Etymology [OF. relinquir, L. relinquere to leave behind; pref. re- re + linquere to leave. See Loan, and cf. Relic, Relict.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “relinquish”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details