Leave

VERBhigh frequency – top 500 wordsA1GeneralBusinessAcademic

πŸ”Š Pronunciation

/liːv/
Syllables: leave
Stress: single syllable
Long 'ee' sound, similar to 'believe'

πŸ‘¨β€πŸ‘©β€πŸ‘§β€πŸ‘¦ Word Family

Word Class Forms
Verbs leave, leaves, leaving, left
Nouns leave, leaving
Adjectives left
Limited derivational morphology; mostly inflectional forms

πŸ“– Meanings & Definitions

Noun Meanings

1

official permission to be absent from work or duty
“She's on annual leave next week”
“He took sick leave after the accident”
Synonyms: time off, vacation, break

neutralbusiness/employment

Verb Meanings

1

to go away from a place
“We left the house at 8am”
Synonyms: depart, exit, go

neutral

2

to abandon or desert something/someone
“Don't leave me here alone”
Synonyms: abandon, desert, forsake

neutral

3

to allow something to remain in a particular state
“Leave the door open”
Synonyms: keep, maintain

neutral

πŸ”§ Verb Patterns

leave + place
“We left the restaurant”
leave + object + adjective/past participle
“She left the door open”
leave + object + to + infinitive
“Leave him to finish his work”

Transitivity

Type: both
Passive forms: “The car was left in the garage”

🀝 Collocations

Verb + Noun

take leavegrant leave

Adjective + Noun

annual leavesick leaveunpaid leave

⚠️ Common Errors

❌ I will leave from the party earlyβ†’βœ“ I will leave the party early
No preposition needed with direct object
Common for: Common in languages that use preposition with 'leave'

Medium impact

❌ She left to London yesterdayβ†’βœ“ She left for London yesterday
Wrong preposition – use 'for' with destinations
❌ He leaved the office at 5β†’βœ“ He left the office at 5
Irregular past form confusion

πŸ“Š Register & Frequency

Frequency: top 1000 words
Spoken: common
Written: common
Academic: common
Business: common
Formality: neutral