Meaning & use
surrender
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Meanings
verbintransitive
To stop fighting and accept defeat by giving yourself up to an enemy.
Grammar: Often followed by to: the army surrendered to the invaders.
Patterns
- surrender to someone
- surrender to the police
The soldiers surrendered after three days without supplies.
The suspect surrendered to the police outside the building.
The town refused to surrender to the enemy.
verbtransitiveformal
To hand over something, such as a weapon, document or right, because you are required to or choose to.
Grammar: Takes an object: surrender your passport.
Patterns
- surrender something to someone
- surrender something
The driver had to surrender his license for a year.
She surrendered her seat to an elderly passenger.
The company surrendered its claim to the land.
verbintransitiveliterary
To give in to a feeling or influence and stop trying to resist it.
Grammar: Often followed by to: surrender to sleep.
Patterns
- surrender to something
Too tired to fight on, he surrendered to sleep.
She finally surrendered to the music and began to dance.
Don't surrender to despair.
nouncountable or uncountable
The act of giving up a struggle or handing something over.
Grammar: Uncountable in general use: refuse surrender; countable for particular events.
Patterns
- the surrender of something
- a surrender to someone
The general announced the surrender of the city.
The treaty required the surrender of all weapons.
Her quiet surrender surprised everyone.
Word forms
| third person singular | surrenders |
|---|---|
| past tense | surrendered |
| past participle | surrendered |
| -ing form | surrendering |
| plural | surrenders |
Common combinations
- surrender to the police
- He surrendered to the police the next morning.
- unconditional surrender
- The army demanded an unconditional surrender.
- refuse to surrender
- The defenders refused to surrender.
- surrender a passport
- Bail conditions required him to surrender his passport.
- white flag of surrender
- They raised a white flag of surrender.
- surrender control
- The founder reluctantly surrendered control of the firm.
Synonyms and how they differ
- yield
- Yield suggests giving way to pressure or a stronger force, often more softly than surrender.
- give up
- Give up is informal and covers quitting anything, while surrender is formal and often linked to a contest.
- submit
- Submit stresses accepting authority or control, not necessarily after a fight.
- capitulate
- Capitulate is a formal word for giving in after resisting, and often used for negotiations.
Opposites
Word family
- surrendered adjective
- given up or handed over
- render verb
- to cause to be or to give
- rendition noun
- a performance or interpretation, related through the root
Commonly confused: surrender or render?
surrender vs render
Render means to cause or provide something, as in render help, and does not mean give in.
Practice
After a long siege, the garrison finally ___ to the enemy.
Choose one answer.
Surrendered means gave itself up. Surrounded or supported do not fit, and survived would not be followed by to the enemy.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “surrender”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.