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surrender

verb · noun

Simple meaning

Relinquish possession or control over.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

serehnder

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

sɚˈɛndɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. intransitive or reflexive

    To give oneself up into the power of another, especially as a prisoner; to submit or give in.

  2. Give up or agree to forgo to the power or possession of another

    “The last Taleban fighters finally surrendered.”

  3. transitive

    To give up into the power, control, or possession of another.

  4. transitive

    To give up possession of; to yield; to resign.

  5. Relinquish possession or control over

    “The squatters had to surrender the building after the police moved in.”

  6. reflexive

    To yield (oneself) to an influence, emotion, passion, etc.

noun

  1. The act of surrendering (usually under agreed conditions)

  2. An act of surrendering, submission into the possession of another; abandonment, resignation.

  3. The yielding or delivery of a possession in response to a demand.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: (intransitive or reflexive) To give oneself up into the power of another, especially as a prisoner; to submit or give in.

Used this way, surrender is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • fall , more formal, and heavier in everyday conversation

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use surrender

  • “The squatters had to surrender the building after the police moved in.”verb
  • “The last Taleban fighters finally surrendered.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

surrender valuecash surrender

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • cash surrender valuenounCompound term

    The amount that the insurance company will pay on a given life insurance policy if the policy is cancelled prior to the death of the insured.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

verb

Sense: to give oneself up into the power of another

deportfallFormalcede

noun

Sense: surrendering (usually under agreed conditions)

capitulation

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.