left 1 of 2

as in liberalism
a political belief stressing progress, the essential goodness of humankind, and individual freedom a rising politician who is being hailed as the new voice of the left

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

left

2 of 2

verb

past tense of leave
1
2
as in bequeathed
to give by means of a will I'm going to leave all of my possessions to my children

Synonyms & Similar Words

3
as in quit
to give up (a job or office) he left his job in the city and moved out into the country

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

4
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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 left
Noun
Advertisement To many on the left, however, that approach amounted to surrender and effectively throwing away any leverage just as the White House faced mounting pressure to yield. Nik Popli, Time, 10 Nov. 2025 This has been true of the left, from suffragists to civil-rights activists, and of the right, down to the Tea Party that began during Obama’s first term, protesting both the bank bailouts and the Affordable Care Act. Jill Lepore, New Yorker, 10 Nov. 2025 On the left, critics see Vance as the Machiavellian defender-in-chief of a dangerous president who is using his second term to undermine democracy and the rule of law. Daniel Bush, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2025 This horseshoe celebration of populism flatters the left and right alike. Ben Smith, semafor.com, 10 Nov. 2025 See All Example Sentences for left
Recent Examples of Synonyms for left
Noun
  • Democrats didn’t start the year expecting to borrow tricks from Newsom, the embodiment of the sort of California liberalism that Republicans everywhere else like to run against.
    David Weigel, semafor.com, 29 Oct. 2025
  • Sandinista ideology blended Marxism, liberalism, and nationalism, borrowing ideas from both sides of the Iron Curtain.
    Tim Brinkhof, JSTOR Daily, 8 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • As a result, the team abandoned the practice for the next two and a half seasons.
    Elizabeth Hutchison Hicklin, Southern Living, 8 Nov. 2025
  • Wayne’s car was seen abandoned in Aurora’s Hoffman Heights neighborhood the next day, on June 15, 1986, but police did not link the car to Wayne until it was towed away two weeks later, an Aurora cold case investigator wrote in the affidavit.
    Katie Langford, Denver Post, 8 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • There are also wooden pews made for the school’s Bond Chapel and 72,000 glass slides from the art-history department, all of which were bequeathed to Gates over the years.
    Elizabeth Cantrell, Travel + Leisure, 26 Sep. 2025
  • Following her death in 2022, the tiara was bequeathed to Queen Camilla.
    Julia Teti, Footwear News, 18 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Others have quit or decided to take retirement during the shutdown, increasing the strain on the industry which already had a severe shortage of traffic controllers.
    Hannah Parry, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Nov. 2025
  • Neither side wanted Davie to quit, but that is where the BBC has ended up.
    Jake Kanter, Deadline, 10 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Days later the president handed a full and unconditional pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the former CEO of Binance, who pleaded guilty to money laundering charges.
    NPR, NPR, 11 Nov. 2025
  • He just got booed at a football game, and voters handed Democrats huge victories in Tuesday’s election.
    James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 11 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • Somewhere beyond the brush, two frightened dogs — caught on video being dumped and abandoned — were still waiting, as if the person who left them might return.
    Ashley Vega, PEOPLE, 7 Nov. 2025
  • Drone footage showed catastrophic flooding that turned streets into rivers, submerged homes and overturned cars as Typhoon Kalmaegi, known locally as Tino, dumped more than a month’s worth of rain in only 24 hours in some areas.
    Helen Regan, CNN Money, 6 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • The company count included insiders like Musk, who held around a 15% stake in Tesla going into the proxy and was allowed to vote his shares.
    Lora Kolodny, CNBC, 11 Nov. 2025
  • After the couple handed Clarkson a paper with their vows and requested her to read it, the three-time Grammy Award winner joked that she wasn’t officially allowed to officiate.
    Ashley Hume, FOXNews.com, 10 Nov. 2025
Verb
  • But here, stranded alongside Bradley Cooper (who has the same deer-in-headlights look), she’s completely lost as a Depression-era woman who goes mad after losing a child and directs her fury at a woman who had an illegitimate son with her husband years earlier.
    Tim Grierson, Vulture, 8 Nov. 2025
  • Researchers hypothesize that Earhart did not crash at sea, but instead landed and was stranded on Nikumaroro Island, later perishing there.
    Ashley J. DiMella, FOXNews.com, 7 Nov. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Left.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/left. Accessed 13 Nov. 2025.

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