1
as in surrendering
to give (something) over to the control or possession of another usually under duress
the boy reluctantly relinquished the illegal fireworks to the police officer
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in abdicating
to give up (as a position of authority) formally
the retiring CEO relinquished his position to the company's vice president with very mixed feelings
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of relinquishing
For the Thunder to turn a defensive liability into one of the best defenders in all of basketball, without relinquishing a single draft pick, has to go down as one of the biggest steals of the 2024-2025 NBA season.
—
Morten Stig Jensen, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
There’s that relinquishing control of the messaging, though!
—Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Dec. 2024
Exploring places neither my dad nor I have a connection to, and relinquishing control of the future plans, feels familiar.
—Alexandra Pereira, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2024
On December 10, 1936, King Edward signed the Instrument of Abdication, officially beginning the process of stepping down from the throne and relinquishing its privileges.
—Janine Henni, People.com, 10 Dec. 2024
Sometimes stepping away from a toxic environment means embracing humility, relinquishing your impressive title, and starting over.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 7 Dec. 2024
Babygirl is juicy and perverse in its exploration of the pleasure to be found in relinquishing control, and Kidman is incandescent in it.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024
Because of that focus on ownership, Playground is yet to produce a series for a streamer like Netflix, Amazon and Apple, which require relinquishing global rights.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 3 Dec. 2024
His new role would mean relinquishing his outsider critic status and working from within a massive government system, leading an agency of 80,000 employees and dealing with everything from drug approvals to food recalls to the pandemic response.
—Cheyenne Haslett, ABC News, 27 Nov. 2024
Morten Stig Jensen, Forbes, 22 Dec. 2024
There’s that relinquishing control of the messaging, though!
—Mikey O'Connell, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Dec. 2024
Exploring places neither my dad nor I have a connection to, and relinquishing control of the future plans, feels familiar.
—Alexandra Pereira, Vogue, 16 Dec. 2024
On December 10, 1936, King Edward signed the Instrument of Abdication, officially beginning the process of stepping down from the throne and relinquishing its privileges.
—Janine Henni, People.com, 10 Dec. 2024
Sometimes stepping away from a toxic environment means embracing humility, relinquishing your impressive title, and starting over.
—Daniel R. Depetris, Newsweek, 7 Dec. 2024
Babygirl is juicy and perverse in its exploration of the pleasure to be found in relinquishing control, and Kidman is incandescent in it.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024
Because of that focus on ownership, Playground is yet to produce a series for a streamer like Netflix, Amazon and Apple, which require relinquishing global rights.
—Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 3 Dec. 2024
His new role would mean relinquishing his outsider critic status and working from within a massive government system, leading an agency of 80,000 employees and dealing with everything from drug approvals to food recalls to the pandemic response.
—Cheyenne Haslett, ABC News, 27 Nov. 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for relinquishing
Verb
-
At that time, the Cowboys, in their first full game without Dak Prescott at quarterback, were a dysfunctional team surrendering the league’s third-most rushing yards per game.—
Brooks Kubena,
The Athletic,
27 Dec. 2024
-
The Chargers puffed their chest, all right, with a defense which allowed just three points in the final two quarters after surrendering points in Denver’s first three possessions.—
Jay Paris,
Forbes,
20 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
This means that the color rendering under a light source should be as natural as possible compared to daylight.—
Desireé Oostland,
Vogue,
31 Dec. 2024
-
Some celebrities have been accused of operating pump-and-dump schemes with their coins, using their social media following to artificially inflate the value of these coins before cashing in their large holdings and rendering the coins worthless.—
Ben Dandridge-Lemco,
Rolling Stone,
29 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
Without Yoon resigning, the opposition party worked to enact impeachment proceedings against the president.—
Leah Sarnoff,
ABC News,
3 Jan. 2025
-
Shortly before resigning, Tavares announced Stellantis would lay off 1,100 Ohio Jeep plant employees, a move that has since been rolled back by the company.—
Maria Gracia Santillana Linares,
Forbes,
31 Dec. 2024
Verb
-
Many high-end restaurants, especially in Texas, try to offer fancy tacos at inflated prices without delivering anything worthy of the cost or pomp.—
Tasha Tsiaperas,
Axios,
11 Mar. 2025
-
In 2025, the number of DDOS attacks have spiked, partly propelled by a massive botnet largely concentrated in the US delivering record-sized attacks.—
Ars Technica,
Ars Technica,
11 Mar. 2025
Verb
-
That same year, facing intimidation by land-hungry settlers, the Shawnee signed another treaty ceding most of their Kansas reservation to the government, leaving the area around the mission to the Methodist church.—
Alfredo Sosa,
The Christian Science Monitor,
13 Mar. 2025
-
There are consequences to Congress ceding wide swaths of its authority to a massive administration state.—
Editorial,
Boston Herald,
9 Mar. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Relinquishing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/relinquishing. Accessed 8 Jul. 2025.
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