gave up

Definition of gave upnext
past tense of give up
1
as in relinquished
to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress was in so much debt he had to give up his house and move into a cheaper apartment

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
3
4
as in indulged
to give (oneself) over to something especially unrestrainedly even in the darkest days of her troubled marriage, she refused to give herself up to feelings of utter hopelessness

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of gave up In his last three starts before the All-Star break, Alcantara gave up 24 hits and 18 earned runs in 17 innings. Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2026 Gilbert gave up two runs on six hits with no walks while striking out five in six innings. CBS News, 7 Apr. 2026 Anderson gave up a run in two innings. Los Angeles Times, 6 Apr. 2026 Imanaga struck out seven in five innings, but also gave up four runs on six hits. Ben Verbrugge, MSNBC Newsweek, 30 Mar. 2026 Harrison struck out eight and gave up one run, four hits and one walk in five innings. ABC News, 30 Mar. 2026 The best starter was right-hander George Klassen, who gave up one earned run in 4⅔ innings, with five strikeouts and no walks. Jeff Fletcher, Oc Register, 30 Mar. 2026 Playing a sloppy period for one of the few times this calendar year, Dallas gave up four goals — two on breakaways, including a short-handed goal on a giveaway by Miro Heiskanen — as Utah ended the points streak with an emphatic 6-3 victory at the AAC. Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas Morning News, 16 Mar. 2026 The Bobcats' pitching, which had been adequate for most of the nonconference slate, gave up 36 runs over three days. Caleb Yum, Austin American Statesman, 16 Mar. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gave up
Verb
  • Coughlin was in a three-way tie for the lead after the first round and never relinquished that position as others fell off.
    ABC News, ABC News, 6 Apr. 2026
  • Simmons was set to be Ole Miss’ starter in 2025, but an early-season ankle injury derailed that, and Trinidad Chambliss took over and never relinquished the job.
    Sam Khan Jr, New York Times, 2 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • But later that month, after several employees talked about quitting, the plan was abandoned.
    Ronan Farrow, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
  • On Israel, which fringes on both the Left and the Right have increasingly abandoned, Gallego questioned those who want to defund defensive support to the Middle Eastern nation.
    Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 5 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • He was later transported to a local hospital but subsequently succumbed to his injuries, according to the police.
    Hema Sivanandam, Mercury News, 10 Apr. 2026
  • After filming, Eric Dane, who brilliantly portrayed tortured parent Cal Jacobs, succumbed to the effects of ALS in February of this year.
    Shirley Halperin, Rolling Stone, 9 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • His appetite for complexity was increasingly indulged as a means of branding cities and institutions, and his novel forms were deployed as blunt metaphors to absorb and obscure contradictions rather than negotiate them in material and spatial terms.
    Julian Rose, Artforum, 26 Mar. 2026
  • The custodian of the maison’s some 20,000 documents, fragments, and objects is the effervescent Sophie Rouart, who indulged me in pulling any style of my choosing.
    Stephanie Sporn, Vogue, 27 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Since when in 250 years has America surrendered democracy to one person, putting aside the law and the Constitution?
    Sun Sentinel Editorial Board, Sun Sentinel, 11 Apr. 2026
  • Chase Dollander surrendered one run on four hits in 4 1/3 innings for Colorado after Jimmy Herget opened with a 1-2-3 first.
    ABC News, ABC News, 10 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • Nevertheless, Kayla refused to quit.
    Tereza Shkurtaj, PEOPLE, 11 Apr. 2026
  • The town has been operating without a local government since January, when its entire Board of Trustees quit following years of bitter infighting and a violent scuffle that sent one of the trustees to the hospital, The Denver Post reported last month.
    Sam Tabachnik, Denver Post, 10 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • Or the mood might call for ripping into smoky lamb shoulder, rubbed with baharat (Lebanese seven spice) and rendered to a consistency somewhere wonderfully between melty and ropy.
    Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 9 Apr. 2026
  • What’s heightening the crisis is that stopgaps typically used to offset supply shocks have been rendered moot.
    Tess Kenny, Chicago Tribune, 9 Apr. 2026
Verb
  • Glock discontinued its pistol model late last year and replaced the plastic nub near the rear sight with a small steel rail in its new pistol models, known as Gen V, to solve the conversion issue.
    Jack O'Connor, Chicago Tribune, 8 Apr. 2026
  • Three of those cases were either settled or discontinued.
    April 8, CBS News, 8 Apr. 2026

Cite this Entry

“Gave up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gave%20up. Accessed 13 Apr. 2026.

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