Dictionary

leave someone to their own devices en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Meanings

1. (idiomatic, transitive) to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance.
   • Left to my own devices, I'll spend hours staring into space, just thinking.
   • ‘Forgive me,’ he said to the girl, ‘while I telephone to the Dubernes. I must arrange my rendezvous for dinner tonight. Are you sure you won't mind being left to your own devices this evening?’ 1953, Ian Fleming, Casino Royale, page 32:
   • But surely one of the most often-heard complaints this past year or so, not only from passengers and traders, but from many of these selfsame railwaymen, is that the latter are left too much to their own devices to sort out their problems as best they can; [...]. 1963 February, “Nobody runs this railway, mate”, in Modern Railways, page 75:
   • Let's leave her to her own devices and see what she comes up with.

Forms

Relateds

fend for oneself

Translations (9)

ru предоставля́ть са́мому себе́ (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · de seinem Schicksal überlassen (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · fr livrer à soi-même (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · nl aan zijn lot overlaten (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · fi jättää oman onnensa nojaan (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · pl pozostawiać samemu sobie (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · tr kendi haline bırakmak (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · pl pozostawić samemu sobie (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance) · fr laisser pour compte (to leave alone, unsupervised, without assistance)