give up

phrasal verb

Word Forms

present tense
I/you/we/they	give up
he/she/it	gives up
present participle	giving up
past tense	gave up
past participle	given up

1
transitive to stop doing something that you do regularly
His wife finally persuaded him to give up smoking.
Giving up his job was the last thing we expected him to do.
Synonyms and related words
To give up doing something
give up
swear off
grow out of
1. 1a
  transitive to stop thinking or believing something
  It was a difficult time, but we never gave up hope.
  give up the idea of something (=to no longer want to do something):
  He had given up the idea of marriage altogether.
  Synonyms and related words
  To change your opinion, attitudes or behaviour
  change your mind
  see reason/sense
  adapt
2. 1b
  intransitive/transitive to stop doing something that you are trying hard to do
  We’ve given up trying to persuade them to change.
  Decide what you want and then don’t give up until you’ve achieved it.
  Synonyms and related words
  To stop doing something
  stop
  break off
  give up
2
transitive to allow someone to have something that was yours
The new arrangement would mean giving up some of their political independence.
give up to:
They agreed to give half their office up to the temporary staff.
Synonyms and related words
To stop owning something
give up
sacrifice
surrender
1. 2a
  to use your time for one activity instead of another
  Doing this course will mean giving up a lot of my spare time.
  Synonyms and related words
  To give up doing something
  give up
  swear off
  grow out of
3
transitive if you give yourself up, you allow yourself to be arrested by the police
Synonyms and related words
Arresting, interviewing and charging suspects
apprehend
apprehension
arrest
4
transitive if you give something up as lost, you believe that you will not find it and you stop looking for it
give someone up for dead:
The men who were still in the boat had given him up for dead.
Synonyms and related words
Relating to searching and finding
accessible
among
draw a blank