Abandon and achieve are opposite ends of an effort. To abandon a goal is to give it up partway — to leave it unreached and walk away (abandon the attempt). To achieve a goal is to reach it at last — to carry the effort through to success (achieve the target). One quits before the end; the other arrives at it.
These two mark opposite outcomes of the same climb. Abandon, from Old French abandoner ('to give up to fate'), stops partway and walks off — the goal left untouched. Achieve, from Old French achever ('to bring to a head'), goes the whole way — the goal reached, the effort finished. Where abandon leaves the summit untouched, achieve sets a hand on it. Abandon is the climb given up; achieve is the climb completed.
abandon
To abandon is to walk away and not come back — to give up a thing, a place, or a person entirely, leaving it to its fate. You abandon a sinking ship, an old plan, a search. The word carries finality and often a trace of failure or desertion: what is abandoned is left behind, untended, alone. There is a second, almost opposite sense in the noun phrase 'with abandon', meaning with complete freedom from restraint — but the verb is about letting go for good.
achieve
To achieve something is to reach it on purpose and at a cost — to bring a goal all the way to its head after effort, not to stumble into it. The word comes from Old French achever, 'to bring to a head', and that finishing sense still clings to it: you achieve a result, a target, a standard, rarely a small daily act. It implies the climb behind the outcome, which is why we speak of a hard-won achievement and never of achieving breathing.
| abandon | achieve | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | to give a goal up partway | to reach a goal at last, through effort |
| The finish | left unreached | reached, the effort complete |
| Outcome | the goal untouched | the goal attained |
| Often with | abandon the attempt, a plan, a search | achieve a target, a goal, success, greatness |
| Direction | quit before the end | arrive at the end |
| Example | They abandoned the climb below the summit. | They achieved the summit by noon. |
They are opposite ends of one effort — ask whether you quit or arrived. Abandon is the figure walking off as the light shrinks, the goal left untouched (abandon the attempt, abandon the plan). Achieve is the climber who touches the light at the top and watches it swell, the effort carried through (achieve the target, achieve success). If you give it up before the finish, you abandon it; if you reach the finish, you achieve it.
abandon
- iExhausted, they abandoned the expedition short of the peak.
- iiHe abandoned the degree in his final year.
- iiiThe firm abandoned the launch at the last minute.
achieve
- iShe achieved the highest grade in her year.
- iiThey achieved their sales target a month early.
- iiiHe achieved what no one thought possible.
They are opposites for an effort: abandon leaves the goal unreached, while achieve brings it home. Note that you abandon the attempt (the process) but achieve the goal (the result) — the words sit at the start of failure and the end of success.