abeyance
/əˈbeɪ.ən(t)s/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.36 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Expectancy; a condition when an ownership of real property is undetermined; lapse in succession of ownership of estate, or title.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Expectancy of a noble or armigeral title, its right in existence but its exercise suspended.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The proceeds of the estate shall be held in abeyance in an escrow account until the minor reaches age twenty-one."
- "Yet sometimes the fee may be in abeyance, that is (as the word signifies) in expectation, remembrance, and contemplation in law; there being no person in esse, in whom it can vest and abide […]"
- "Note: Under the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 all territorial claims are held under abeyance in the interest of international co-operation for scientific purposes."
- "Without a plausible explanation for what might have provoked an ice age, the whole theory fell into abeyance."
- "[...] Prosser was instrumental in the decision in 2010 to recommence publication of an annual health and safety report, following a period when it had fallen into abeyance."
- "The palace had previously that the duke’s military appointments were in abeyance after he stepped down from public duties in 2019."
Etymology
First attested in 1528. From Anglo-Norman abeiance (“legal expectation”), from Old French abeance (“desire”) from abeër (“to gape at, aspire after”), abaer, abair (“to desire”), from a (“to”) + baër (“to gape”), bair (“yawn”), from Medieval Latin batō (“to yawn”).
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: abeiance, abeance, batō