Abandonment

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment. The abandonment of the independence of Europe. Burke.

2. 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.

3. (a) The relinquishment of a right, claim, or privilege, as to mill site, etc. (b) The voluntary leaving of a person to whom one is bound by a special relation, as a wife, husband, or child; desertion.

4. Careless freedom or ease; abandon. [R.] Carlyle.