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quit

KWIT/kwɪt/

Formsquits, quitting, quit

12 meanings of quit

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  1. 1
    give upverbtransitive or intransitive
    To stop or give up an activity that one has been engaged in.

    His doctor told him to quit smoking before it did any more damage to his lungs.

    He quit training when the pain in his knee grew worse.

    UsageTakes -ing: quit smoking (not incorrect: quit to smoke). The past form is usually quit: he quit last year.

    Similarstop, cease, abandon, discontinue, drop

    Oppositecontinue, persist, resume

  2. 2
    leave a jobverbtransitive or intransitive
    To resign from a job, office, or other position.

    Several engineers quit when the company changed its leadership.

    I intend to quit my position at the end of the year.

    UsageSay quit your job, or just quit. The past form is usually quit: she quit in May.

    Similarresign, leave

    Oppositestay, remain

  3. 3
    give upverbtransitive
    To abandon or renounce a thing entirely.

    After the health scare, he quit red meat entirely and has not touched it since.

    She chose to quit social media altogether, deleting every account she had ever made.

    UsageTakes the thing given up: quit sugar, quit cigarettes, often with for good or altogether.

    Similarrenounce, abandon, relinquish, forsake, surrender

    Oppositeretain, keep

  4. 4
    close programverbtransitive
    To close a running application or program.

    Quit the browser completely to free up some memory.

    He quit the editor without saving his changes.

    UsageSay quit an app or quit the program; force quit stops a frozen one.

    Similarclose, exit, terminate

    Oppositeopen, launch

    Note

    Software took the everyday sense of stopping and gave it a precise job. Quitting an application ends the program itself. Normally the program is asked to close, so it can save work and release the system resources it had reserved. A force quit ends it without that orderly shutdown. Either way the program stops running, and that is what distinguishes quitting a program from simply walking away from it.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Quitting an application ends its execution. developer.apple.com
    • Normal quitting generally allows cleanup, but quitting can also involve immediate termination without the application's participation. developer.apple.com
    • The distinction is ending the program's execution; an orderly shutdown is not guaranteed, as force-quitting illustrates. support.apple.com
  5. 5
    leave a placeverbtransitive
    To leave a place, departing from it.

    The family quit the city for a quieter life in the country.

    Residents were ordered to quit the premises immediately.

    UsagePast form quit or quitted: quitted the room, quit the city. Notices say quit the premises.

    Similarleave, vacate, abandon, exit, depart

    Oppositeenter, occupy

    Note

    Fielding writes that Jones "had no sooner quitted the room", while a modern sentence says the British quit India. In legal language the verb can stand alone: tenants are made to quit, meaning they vacate and give up possession.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • Henry Fielding uses the quoted wording about Jones in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling; it is narration. gutenberg.org
    • A modern illustrative sentence uses quit for the British departure from India. en.wiktionary.org
    • Legal writing attests quit without a direct object, referring to tenants leaving and surrendering possession. en.wiktionary.org

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Origin

It comes from Middle English quiten, borrowed through Anglo-Norman and Old French quitter, from quitte ("acquitted, quit"), ultimately from Latin quietus. It is a doublet of coy, quite, quiet, and quietus, going back to a root meaning "to rest."

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 6 facts