abate
/əˈbeɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.68 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "[Jupiter] whiche by his goodnes as Marcianus ſaieth, abateth the malice of Saturne. Therfore the Poets faine, that he did put his father out of his kingdome, Iſidore writeth as he abateth the malice of the euill Planets, […]"
- "Abate thy rage ſweete knight, Abate thy rage."
- "By the oft removal of a Wild-ſtock, cutting the ends of the Roots, and diſ-branching ſomewhat of the Head at every change of place, it will greatly abate of its natural wildneſs, and in time bring forth more civil and ingenuous Fruit: […]"
- "And it is to be noted that in the sharpest of his extreme fits he [George Herbert] would often say, 'Lord, abate my great affliction, or increase my patience; but, Lord, I repine not; I am dumb, Lord, before Thee, because Thou doest it.'"
- "In the one period, an hundred and fifty years of peace between the two nations, the habit of being ſubjected to the ſame King, and governed by the ſame maxims, had conſiderably abated old animoſities, and prepared both people for incorporating."
- "To abate the force of these considerations, an enemy of free discussion may be supposed to say, that there is no necessity for mankind in general to know and understand all that can be said against or for the opinions by philosophers and theologians."
Etymology
From Middle English abaten, from Anglo-Norman abatre, from Late Latin abbattere, from Latin battere. detailed etymology, sense derivation, and cognates The verb is derived from Middle English abaten (“to demolish, knock down; to defeat, strike down; to strike or take down (a sail); to throw down; to bow dejectedly or submissively; to be dejected; to stop; to defeat, humiliate; to repeal (a law); to dismiss or quash (a lawsuit); to lessen, reduce; to injure, impair; to appease; to decline, grow less; to deduct, subtract; to make one’s way; attack (an enemy); (law) to enter or intrude upon (someone’s property); of a hawk: to beat or flap the wings”) [and other forms], from Anglo-Norman abater, abatier, abatre, abbatre, Middle French abattre, abatre, abattre, Old French abatre, abattre (“to demolish, knock down; to bring down, cut down; to lessen, reduce; to suppress; to stop; to discourage; to impoverish, ruin; to conquer; to overthrow; to kill; to remove (money) from circulation; (law) to annul”), from Late Latin abbattere (“to bring down, take down; to suppress; to debase (currency)”), from Latin ab- (prefix meaning ‘away; from; away from’) + Latin battere, from older battuere (“to beat, hit; to beat up; to fight”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to dig; to stab”)). The noun is derived from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈbeɪt/
- British English: /əˈbeɪt/
Usage
Inflected Forms
abates (present, singular)
abating (participle, present)
abated (participle, past)
abated (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
abated (first person, past)
abatest (archaic, present)
abated (past, second person)
abatedst (archaic, past)
abateth (archaic, present)
abated (past, singular)