Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To give up or abandon (control of something or a claim, for example).
  • transitive verb To put aside or desist from (something practiced, professed, or intended); stop doing or adhering to.
  • transitive verb To let go; surrender.
  • transitive verb To cease holding physically; release.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To give up the possession or occupancy of; withdraw from; leave; abandon; quit.
  • To cease from; give up the pursuit or practice of; desist from: as, to relinquish bad habits.
  • To renounce a claim to; resign:-as, to relinquish a debt.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To withdraw from; to leave behind; to desist from; to abandon; to quit.
  • transitive verb To give up; to renounce a claim to; resign.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To give up, abandon or retire from something.
  • verb To let go (free, away), physically release.
  • verb To metaphorically surrender, yield control or possession.
  • verb To accept to give up, withdraw etc.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb release, as from one's grip
  • verb part with a possession or right
  • verb turn away from; give up
  • verb do without or cease to hold or adhere to

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English relinquisshen, from Old French relinquir, relinquiss-, from Latin relinquere : re-, re- + linquere, to leave; see leikw- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English relinquisshen, from the inflected stem of Middle French relinquir, from Latin relinquere, itself, from re- + linquere ("to leave")

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Examples

  • As the plane makes its final approach into Chicago, I think of the word relinquish.

    In the Fullness of Time Emily W. Upham 2010

  • No circumstances of the Norman Conquest more forcibly illustrate the humiliation of the conquered people, than the measures by which the invaders imposed their language on the public courts of the country, and endeavored to make it permanently usurp the place of the mother-tongue of the despised multitude; and no fact more signally displays our conservative temper than the general reluctance of English society to relinquish the use of the French words and phrases which still tincture the language of parliament, and the procedures of Westminster Hall, recalling to our minds the insolent domination of a few powerful families who occupied our country by force, and ruled our forefathers with vigorous injustice.

    A Book About Lawyers John Cordy Jeaffreson 1866

  • China has no claim to Taiwan, so it is not being asked to "relinquish" anything, nor is what is happening "reunification."

    Archive 2006-03-01 Michael Turton 2006

  • But following the Prakash Singh Badal and Karunanidhi model where aging leaders are preparing to "relinquish" power to their sons, a Rahul Gandhi coronation in the middle of UPA government's next term seems likely.

    Retributions 2009

  • The term "relinquish" has negative connotations: it means giving up something that may not have been properly yours.

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • But Morrisons said he would instead "relinquish" CEO duties today.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2009

  • "relinquish" here is an improvement on modern translations; note how this verse implicitly links atheism and homosexuality and other promiscuity

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] ChrisY 2010

  • "relinquish" here is an improvement on modern translations; note how this verse implicitly links atheism and homosexuality and other promiscuity

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] ChrisY 2010

  • "relinquish" here is an improvement on modern translations; note how this verse implicitly links atheism and homosexuality and other promiscuity

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] Aschlafly 2010

  • "relinquish" here is an improvement on modern translations; note how this verse implicitly links atheism and homosexuality and other promiscuity

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] Aschlafly 2010

Comments

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  • All our patients die eventually. They should do six things for their 'Death Work': ... (4) relinquish independence.

    - Peter Reading, C, 1984

    July 23, 2008