surrender to
phrasal verb.phrasal verb. to stop fighting or resisting something and let it control you.
phrasal verb. to cease resistance to an enemy, opponent, or overwhelming force; can also describe yielding to an emotion or impulse.
The soldiers had to surrender to the enemy.
After hours of trying to stay awake, she finally surrendered to her exhaustion and fell asleep.
The rebel forces were eventually forced to surrender to the government troops after their supply lines were completely severed.
- Particles
- to
- Separability
- inseparable
- Pattern
- surrender + to + object
requires a direct object following the preposition 'to'.
highlight that this can be used literally for war or figuratively for feelings like 'temptation' or 'despair' to help students see its range.
They surrendered the enemy.They surrendered to the enemy.without 'to', the verb means you are giving something up (like a weapon), rather than giving yourself up to someone else.
Last updated April 24, 2026