leave (original) (raw)
leave verb (REMAIN)
A2
If something leaves something else, a part or effect of it stays after it has gone or been used:
Leave that chair where it is.
He left most of his dinner (= did not eat much of it).
I'll have to go back - I think I've left the iron on.
If you leave something or someone doing something, he, she, or it is still doing it when you go away:
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
leave verb (NOT USE ALL)
A2 [ T ]
to not eat or use all of something:
be left (also be left over)
If something or someone is left, they remain after the rest of the things or people have gone or been used:
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
leave verb (END RELATIONSHIP)
I'll never leave you.
leave someone for someone She left her husband for a younger man.
leave verb (WAIT)
C2 [ T ]
If you leave (doing) something, you wait before you do it:
Don't leave it too late (= don't wait too long to do it).
leave verb (AFTER DEATH)
leave something to someone He left all his money to his nieces.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
leave verb (GIVE RESPONSIBILITY)
leave something to someone I'm fed up of her leaving all the work to me.
leave something up to someone I left the decision up to her.
leave something with someone Leave it (= the problem) with me, I'll see what I can do.
Grammar
Idioms
Phrasal verbs
leave noun (HOLIDAY)
More examplesFewer examples
- I haven't got any leave left.
- He's on leave this week.
- I get 25 days annual leave.
- I need to take some leave before the end of the year.
- We were given an extra day's leave.
leave noun (PERMISSION)
leave noun (GOODBYE)
Idioms
(Definition of leave from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)
leave | American Dictionary
leave verb (GO AWAY)
leave verb (NOT TAKE)
to not take something with you:
Hurry up or you’ll get left behind the other hikers.
leave verb (CAUSE TO STAY)
leave verb (MAKE AVAILABLE)
There are only four cookies – please leave one for me.
Five from twelve leaves seven (= Seven is the result of taking five from twelve).
leave verb (GIVE RESPONSIBILITY)
Leave it to me – I’ll see what I can do.
I’ll leave it up to you to choose the gift.
Idioms
Phrasal verbs
leave noun [U] (VACATION)
leave noun [U] (PERMISSION)
He took it without my leave.
(Definition of leave from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
leave | Business English
be placed/put on leave
WORKPLACE, HR
to be told to take time away from work, usually because you have been accused of doing something wrong:
See also
Ben Harris? He left about a month ago.
How old were you when you left school?
to not use all of something:
Is there any money left in last year's budget?.
Phrasal verbs
(Definition of leave from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)
Examples of leave
leave
Some made a forced return from leave, expressing a sense of urgency uncharacteristic of ordinary project life.
Soldiers on leave and veterans returning home undoubtedly passed on their knowledge and experiences to the rest of the population.
Space is left above the stack for responses to requests for information such as types.
Also, forgotten paths and roads may have left strips of compacted soil, which can last a long time.
From left to right, the left tibia, the right femur, the left humerus, the left ulna and the left radius.
The catheter was removed and the guide-wire was left in the distal vessel.
It is unfortunate that they were left out, but this was due to a number of technical problems in reproduction.
Table 6 shows that 60 per cent already had a strong commitment to teaching when they left school.
This left 64 patients who took part in the study.
Symbolic evaluation allows the numeric input to be left as a symbolic constant 'x'.
As a consequence the editors did not leave much space for culture in the sense of aesthetic and symbolic representation.
This was then left in the laboratory near a window.
We leave the straightforward proof of this to the reader.
The proof of this embedding result is straightforward and will thus be left as an exercise.
We are thus left with 275 time-consistent municipalities.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
Collocations with leave
These are words often used in combination with leave.
Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.
Not surprisingly, a greater proportion of skilled workers practiced absenteeism, whereas laborers more often asked for extended leave.
Over 70 per cent, of all after-entry casework, which includes applications for indefinite leave to remain, is now completed within two weeks of receipt.
The three big items of them are £31,000,000 for leave pay, £25,000,000 for war gratuities, and £11,000,000 for post-war credits.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.