leave alone

English

Verb

leave alone (third-person singular simple present leaves alone, present participle leaving alone, simple past and past participle left alone)

1. (transitive) To stop bothering (a person).

   I wish he'd leave me alone.

   We left her alone until she calmed down.

   • 1951 December, “Notes and News: Travel Through the Balkans”, in Railway Magazine, page 854:

     The Greeks leave transit passengers alone on the Svilengrad-Edirne-Pithion section; the Turkish examination is at Edirne. Pithion is a charming and sleepy little oasis in the middle of nowhere.

2. (transitive) To desist or refrain from involvement with.

   It's safest to leave dangerous chemicals alone.

Synonyms

• let alone (verb)

Derived terms

• leave it alone
• leave well enough alone

Translations

to stop bothering

• Azerbaijani: əl çəkmək
• Dutch: met rust laten (nl)
• Finnish: jättää rauhaan
• French: laisser tranquille, lâcher la grappe (fr), lâcher les baskets (fr)
• Galician: deixar estar
• German: in Ruhe lassen
• Greek: αφήνω ήσυχο (afíno ísycho)
• Hungarian: békén hagy
• Italian: lasciare stare, lasciare in pace
• Maori: waiho
• Polish: zostawiać w spokoju impf, zostawić w spokoju (pl) pf
• Portuguese: deixar em paz (pt)
• Romanian: lăsa în pace, lăsa (ro)
• Russian: оставля́ть в поко́е impf (ostavljátʹ v pokóje), оста́вить в поко́е pf (ostávitʹ v pokóje)
• Scottish Gaelic: leig le
• Serbo-Croatian: pustiti na miru
• Spanish: dejar en paz
• Swedish: lämna ifred, låta bli (sv)
• Turkish: yalnız bırakmak, rahat bırakmak, bırakmak (tr)
• Ukrainian: давати спокій impf (davaty spokij)
• Welsh: gadael yn llonydd