abate
Americanverb (used with object)
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abates,
present (3rd person singular)
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abated,
past participle, past
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abating
present participle
-
to reduce in amount, degree, intensity, etc.; lessen; diminish: to abate one's enthusiasm.
to abate a tax;
to abate one's enthusiasm.
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Law.
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to put an end to or suppress (a nuisance).
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to suspend or extinguish (an action).
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to annul (a writ).
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to deduct or subtract.
to abate part of the cost.
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to omit.
to abate all mention of names.
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to remove, as in stone carving, or hammer down, as in metalwork, (a portion of a surface) in order to produce a figure or pattern in low relief.
verb (used without object)
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abates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
abated,
past participle, past
-
abating
present participle
verb
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to make or become less in amount, intensity, degree, etc
the storm has abated
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(tr) law
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to remove, suppress, or terminate (a nuisance)
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to suspend or extinguish (a claim or action)
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to annul (a writ)
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(intr) law (of a writ, legal action, etc) to become null and void
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(tr) to subtract or deduct, as part of a price
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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abatesimple
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abatessimple
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have abatedperfect
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has abatedperfect
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am abatingprogressive
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are abatingprogressive
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is abatingprogressive
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have been abatingperfect progressive
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has been abatingperfect progressive
Past
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abatedsimple
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had abatedperfect
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was abatingprogressive
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were abatingprogressive
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had been abatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of abate
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French abatre “to beat down,” equivalent to a- a- 5 + batre, from Late Latin batere for Latin battuere “to beat”; a- perhaps also understood as a- 3
Explanation
Something that abates becomes fewer or less intense. Your enthusiasm for skiing might abate after falling off a ski lift and getting a mouthful of snow. Abate comes from the Old French verb abattre, "to beat down," and means to reduce or become less intense or numerous. As an intransitive verb, it is often used with something physically, emotionally, or figuratively violent, as in "the flood of fan mail began to abate." Using it transitively, if you take measures to abate pollution or noise, you reduce them. Pronounce abate with the stress on the second syllable (uh-BATE).
Vocabulary lists containing abate
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Hatchet
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
This isn’t going to abate as an issue over time, either.
From Slate ● Sep. 19, 2026
Downtown businesses were already struggling when people started buying more retail goods online, a trend that didn’t abate when lockdowns ended, Schuster said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 13, 2026
Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro research at ING, said Germany’s GDP might only grow by 0.5% this year—rather than the 0.8% he had previously forecast—if the disruption doesn’t abate soon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Financial Corp., thinks Warsh could start to lay out the case for a resumption of interest-rate cuts once inflation pressures have begun to abate.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 14, 2026
Rainwater dripped from the hem of the master's cloak, but he stood stout as a winebarrel on his bit of decking and looking down at Ged he asked, “Can you abate this wind, lad?”
From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin
“This year, investors have been more sensitive to Shopify’s cost management and margin dilution, and we believe today’s print largely abates those concerns, and establishes an upward trajectory for FCF margins going forward,” Shao wrote.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
Under the current policy, the city abates 90 percent of property taxes on conversions that set aside at least 25 percent of units as affordable housing.
From Barron's ● Jun. 14, 2026
After the hubbub abates, Hudson says the hardest part will be knowing that it will be time to say goodbye to the character and the movie.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 16, 2026
As the drama reaches catharsis, the rain abates and the skies clear.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2025
Salvage teams have been notified and will locate and sink the container when the storm abates.
From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin
“This property should have been proactively secured and abated long before a fire made the danger impossible to ignore.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
The frenzied scenes around this clammy building eventually abated, only for Faye Rogers to spark more bedlam with a rampant gold in the 200m individual medley SM10.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
“We were rightly skeptical about this so-called Sell America trade. As tariff concerns eased and recession fears abated, the debasement narrative lost momentum,” Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, said in commentary shared with MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 28, 2026
Investors in health insurers could be forgiven for thinking the pressure on the Medicare Advantage industry has finally abated.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The storm had abated; I was facedown, almost totally buried in sand.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Second is a recovery in catalysis alongside abating forex headwinds that should let Clariant generate good earnings growth in 2027, he says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
While the wildfires show no sign of abating soon, the UK Foreign Office is currently not advising against travel to France or Spain.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
The war in the Middle East — the most recent, and most severe, energy jolt — is showing no signs of abating.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
Samsung shares have rallied 150% so far this year with Korea’s army of retail investors speculating on further gains as the supply=demand imbalance in memory chips shows no sign of abating.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
It was always there, stark and steady, rarely abating.
From "A Very Large Expanse of Sea" by Tahereh Mafi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
