Learn English – the basic difference between ‘Quit’ and ‘Give up’

word-usage

In my English class, the instructor asked: "What would be your New Year resolution?"

I said, "Giving up smoking."

He passively corrected, "So, quitting smoking! Anyone else?"

What is the basic difference between 'Quit' and 'Give up'?

Best Answer

"Give up" has several (related) meanings (Collins English Dictionary):

  1. to hand over; turn over; surrender
  2. to stop; cease
  3. to admit failure and stop trying
  4. to lose hope for; despair of

"Quit" also has related meanings:

  1. to free (oneself) of
  2. to discharge (a debt or obligation); repay
  3. to stop having, using, or doing (something); give up
  4. to leave; depart from
  5. to stop, discontinue, or resign from

So giving up smoking and quitting smoking are very close in meaning, but as you can see there are other uses of these words that are not alike. "Quit" sometimes means "leave"; "giving up" sometimes means "to stop trying."

You could even say "I am giving up giving up smoking" if you decided to quite trying and go back to smoking.

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