abate

American  

[uh-bayt] / əˈbeɪt /

verb (used with object)

• abates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• abated,
  past participle,  past
• abating
  present participle

1. 

   to reduce in amount, degree, intensity, etc.; lessen; diminish: to abate one's enthusiasm.

   to abate a tax;

   to abate one's enthusiasm.

   Synonyms:

   weaken, decrease

   Antonyms:

   intensify, increase

2. Law.

   1. to put an end to or suppress (a nuisance).

   2. to suspend or extinguish (an action).

   3. to annul (a writ).

3. to deduct or subtract.

   to abate part of the cost.

4. to omit.

   to abate all mention of names.

5. 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)

• abates,
  present (3rd person singular)
• abated,
  past participle,  past
• abating
  present participle

1. to diminish in intensity, violence, amount, etc.: The pain in his shoulder finally abated.

   The storm has abated.

   The pain in his shoulder finally abated.

   Synonyms:

   subside

   Antonyms:

   intensify, increase

2. Law. to end; become null and void.

abate British  

/ əˈbeɪt /

verb

1. to make or become less in amount, intensity, degree, etc

   the storm has abated

2. (tr) law

   1. to remove, suppress, or terminate (a nuisance)

   2. to suspend or extinguish (a claim or action)

   3. to annul (a writ)

3. (intr) law (of a writ, legal action, etc) to become null and void

4. (tr) to subtract or deduct, as part of a price

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• abater
  noun
• abatable
  adjective
• unabatable
  adjective
• unabating
  adjective
• unabatingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• abating
  present
• abated
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• abate
  simple
• abates
  simple
• have abated
  perfect
• has abated
  perfect
• am abating
  progressive
• are abating
  progressive
• is abating
  progressive
• have been abating
  perfect progressive
• has been abating
  perfect progressive

Past

• abated
  simple
• had abated
  perfect
• was abating
  progressive
• were abating
  progressive
• had been abating
  perfect progressive

Future

• will abate
  simple
• will have abated
  perfect
• will be abating
  progressive
• will have been abating
  perfect progressive

---

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).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abate abates abated abating

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

With geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty unlikely to abate soon, SGX’s positioning as a multiasset risk-management platform is a critical differentiator.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 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

After a few seconds of tense, gut-feel physics, he felt the force on the tether abate.

From "The Martian" by Andy Weir

“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

Analysts expect their share prices to remain under pressure until the pace of redemptions abates.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 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

Salvage teams have been notified and will locate and sink the container when the storm abates.

From "Adrift" by Paul Griffin

Once the rain abated, the field did two laps behind a safety car to check conditions before racing began with a standing start.

From BBC ● Oct. 10, 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

“It’s the predominance of this fear that they’ve heard in the media — and that’s largely abated — that a Democrat won’t make it to the runoff,” Mitchell said.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 31, 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 frenzy behind the shutters abated very slightly.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole

And so-called core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy categories, rose by 0.2% in July from the previous month, a relatively modest increase offering hope that broader price pressures could be abating.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

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

But one of the most recent — the energy shock driven by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict in the Middle East — is hopefully showing signs of abating.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026

He saw that he had a donor he could trust, maybe a WL who could be educated about the real challenges of abating poverty.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---

Related Words

• decrease
• diminish
• dwindle
• ebb
• recede
• slacken
• subside
• taper
• wane

---