lexicow

leave behind

/ˌliːv bɪˈhaɪnd//ˌliːv bɪˈhaɪnd/·phrasal verb
I watch a man get up from a café table and walk toward the door at an easy, unhurried pace. His bag is still sitting on the table beside a coffee cup that has not stopped steaming. He does not pat a pocket, does not glance back; he just goes, out and gone. The bag stays exactly where it was set down, and once he is gone its faint warmth cools a little. Nothing was decided about it — it simply did not come along.
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Definition

To leave something behind is to move on without it — sometimes by accident, sometimes just by outpacing it. It can be physical (you leave behind an umbrella) or figurative (you leave behind the doubts of an earlier self). Where abandon is a conscious giving-up and desert is a betrayal of a duty, leave behind is usually incidental or a matter of progress: the thing simply stays put while you carry on. You can also leave behind a legacy — the mark that remains once you have moved on.

Examples

  • In the rush to the gate they left behind a suitcase full of presents.
  • She worked for years to leave behind the doubts of her early career.
  • The fastest runners soon left the rest of the field behind.

Collocations

leave behind a legacy·get left behind·leave the past behind·leave no trace behind

Synonyms

outpace·outstrip·forget·abandon·outrun

Antonyms

keep·retain·take along·bring

In TOEFL & IELTS

Phrasal and flexible: literal (forget or not carry) or figurative (move past). 'Get left behind' is the common passive (students who get left behind). It also takes 'a legacy / a mark / a trace'. Keep the nuance apart from abandon (a deliberate giving-up) and keep (to bring along).