to leave behind
1
2.1
- phrasal verb
- /liːv bɪˈhaɪnd/
- But what are you leaving behind?
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Watch on YouTubeAnd two, the work that we leave behind, that's what defines who we are.
- And two, the work that we leave behind, that's what defines who we are.
- And I think also clearly the data we leave behind is the memories of humanity.
- And so the negative part is about what I leave behind.
- I like to kind of dust and then kind of pat whatever's left behind in same thing.
- And as it goes down the track, it leaves behind a copy of what it just ran over.
- What can I take with me and what can I leave behind?
- As is often the case with investment bubbles, something of value is left behind.
- It was talking about if you think about a snail and like the snail trails that it leaves behind that goo that they produce.
- Again, some of the neutrons enter the nucleus and then decay, leaving behind a proton, which creates heavier elements.
Examples
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You have to leave behind normal.
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I want to leave behind all of my achievements.
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And be careful what you leave behind next time.
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What about the others we're leaving behind?
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"Could she leave behind the life she built for herself in New York?"
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See, sometimes you have to leave behind what you were born into to become who... who God meant you to be.
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"What would you like to leave behind?" he said.
Fiction book (1997) -
I left behind a career in medicine because I thought... that I could make a difference at the FBI.
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And two, the work that we leave behind, that's what defines who we are.
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He decided to leave behind his old life in the city to start fresh in the countryside.
Synonyms
∞
1.6
To cause a feeling or result to remain after an event
∞
2.3
To avoid touching and disturbing a person, animal or object
10
5.1
To let something stay as it is without changing it
3
3.0
Choose not to touch or change something
Antonyms
How Unchanged
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to be survived by' follows directly from combining 'leave' (to go away or to cause something to remain) with 'behind' (remaining after departure): together they mean to cause something to remain after one leaves. This verb+particle composition is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the death-related sense as a specific application of 'leaving something remaining.'
Etymology
The verb leave behind comes from a simple image: you walk through a garden and you leave the flowers behind, not taking or touching them. That's why it means 'to not take, alter, or interfere with something'.