LEAVE BEHIND

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does leave behind mean? 

• LEAVE BEHIND (verb)
  The verb LEAVE BEHIND has 3 senses:

1. depart and not take along

2. be survived by after one's death

3. leave unchanged or undisturbed or refrain from taking

  Familiarity information: LEAVE BEHIND used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LEAVE BEHIND (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Depart and not take along

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

He left behind all his possessions when he moved to Europe

"Leave behind" entails doing...:

go away; go forth; leave (go away from a place)

Verb group:

leave; leave behind (be survived by after one's death)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "leave behind"):

distance; outdistance; outstrip (go far ahead of)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be survived by after one's death

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

leave; leave behind

Context example:

At her death, she left behind her husband and 11 cats

"Leave behind" entails doing...:

buy the farm; cash in one's chips; choke; conk; croak; decease; die; drop dead; exit; expire; give-up the ghost; go; kick the bucket; pass; pass away; perish; pop off; snuff it (pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life)

Verb group:

leave behind (depart and not take along)

bequeath; leave; will (leave or give by will after one's death)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "leave behind"):

widow (cause to be without a spouse)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Leave unchanged or undisturbed or refrain from taking

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

leave; leave alone; leave behind; let alone

Context example:

leave the flowers that you see in the park behind

Hypernyms (to "leave behind" is one way to...):

forbear; refrain (resist doing something)

Verb group:

leave (have left or have as a remainder)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "leave behind"):

let (leave unchanged)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

 Context examples 

Our stores we would leave behind us, save only our guns and cartridges.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Therefore, they should not leave behind such a massive remnant.

(Unpredicted stellar black hole discovered by astronomers, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Mutational signatures are the fingerprints that carcinogens leave behind on our DNA, and just like fingerprints, each one is unique.

(‘Fingerprint database’ could help scientists to identify new cancer culprits, University of Cambridge)

So, stifling a natural regret at the thought of the home comforts he would leave behind him, he said stoutly, Bless your soul, I'm not superannuated yet.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

When massive stars explode as supernovae, they leave behind a curdled web of hot gas and dust, known as a supernova remnant.

(Dead Star Circled by Light, ESO)

I observed but two points in planning my departure—speed, secrecy: to secure these, I had to leave behind me everything I possessed except a small parcel; which, in my hurry and trouble of mind, I forgot to take out of the coach that brought me to Whitcross.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Being a very honest little creature, and unwilling to disgrace the memory I was going to leave behind me at Murdstone and Grinby's, I considered myself bound to remain until Saturday night; and, as I had been paid a week's wages in advance when I first came there, not to present myself in the counting-house at the usual hour, to receive my stipend.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

God bless all we leave behind us, and send us safely back.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)