relinquishment

Other forms: relinquishments

When you sacrifice something or give it up, that's relinquishment. The relinquishment of your position as student council president at the end of the school year might make you a little sad.

Use the noun relinquishment when you're talking about the act of handing something over or abandoning it. The relinquishment of worldly goods is important is some religions, while in others the important relinquishment is that of unkindness. Relinquishment comes from the verb relinquish, to give up. The Latin root of both words is relinquere, "leave behind, forsake, or abandon," which combines re, "back," with linquere, "to leave."

Definitions of relinquishment

1. noun

   the act of giving up and abandoning a struggle or task etc.
   synonyms: relinquishing

   types:

   ceding, cession

   the act of ceding

   handover

   act of relinquishing property or authority etc

   discharge, release, waiver

   a formal written statement of relinquishment

   exemption, granting immunity, immunity

   an act exempting someone

   ceding back, recession

   the act of ceding back

   type of:

   conclusion, ending, termination

   the act of ending something
2. noun

   a verbal act of renouncing a claim or right or position etc.
   synonyms: relinquishing

   types:

   giving up, surrender, yielding

   a verbal act of admitting defeat

   type of:

   renouncement, renunciation

   an act (spoken or written) declaring that something is surrendered or disowned