give up

gave up; given up; giving up; gives up

Definition of give up

transitive verb

1 : to yield control or possession of : surrender forced to give up his job

2 : to desist from : abandon refused to give up her efforts

3 : to declare incurable or insoluble

4a : to abandon (oneself) to a particular feeling, influence, or activity gave himself up to despair

b : to devote to a particular purpose or use

5 : to despair of seeing we'd given you up

6 : to allow (a hit or run in baseball) while pitching

intransitive verb

: to cease doing or attempting something especially as an admission of defeat : quit —often used with ondon't give up on the project

give up the ghost

: to cease to live or function : die

Synonyms More Example Sentences Learn More about give up

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Examples of give up in a Sentence

was in so much debt he had to give up his house and move into a cheaper apartment I hope you won't give up playing the piano.

Recent Examples on the Web This will be close but Tennessee’s offense combined with the points the Raiders are giving up will get the total there. — Jess Root, USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire, "Tennessee Titans at Oakland Raiders odds, lines, picks and best bets," 6 Dec. 2019 Farmers in Alberta and Ohio were able to salvage and store some of their crops, but farmers in other areas, like Manitoba, North Dakota and Minnesota, had no choice but to give up on their beleaguered potatoes. — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, "Poor Potato Crops Could Lead to a North American French Fry Shortage," 4 Dec. 2019 There was the matter of having to give up the nice apartment. — Mathina Calliope, Longreads, "The Backcountry Prescription Experiment," 3 Dec. 2019 Three decades after the first World AIDS Day is not the time to give up hope that this pandemic can be ended. — Judith Feinberg, STAT, "The view from West Virginia: the end of HIV transmission is a distant dream," 1 Dec. 2019 In exchange for giving up perpetual royalties on MS-DOS, which would be called IBM PC-DOS, Gates insisted on retaining the rights to sell DOS to other companies. — Jeremy Reimer, Ars Technica, "Half an operating system: The triumph and tragedy of OS/2," 29 Nov. 2019 To those who are ready to give up on market forces in health care, the regulations may be seen as too little, too late. — Neeraj Sood, The Conversation, "What the Trump administration gets right about hospital price transparency," 27 Nov. 2019 Milwaukee would never give up, but every time the team was within 10, the Colonials had an answer until late Down 61-51, Roy hit a trio of free throws after getting fouled shooting a three-pointer. — Paul Drzewiecki, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "George Washington 66, UWM 63: Panthers' comeback falls short," 24 Nov. 2019 Beyond the track or the sidewalk, these themes of failure and success, never giving up, and mind over matter have a wonderful way of seeping into daily life, which Bennett fully recognizes. — Liana Satenstein, Vogue, "Thinking About the Next Marathon? This Virtual Coach Will Help You Train," 21 Nov. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'give up.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Dictionary Entries near give up

give (something) up as a bad job

give the game away

give up on (someone or something)

Statistics for give up

Last Updated

11 Dec 2019

Cite this Entry

“Give up.” The Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Inc., https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/giving%20up. Accessed 15 December 2019.

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