abode
1 Americannoun
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a place in which a person resides; residence; dwelling; habitation; home.
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an extended stay in a place; sojourn.
verb
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of abode
1200–50; Middle English abood a waiting, delay, stay; akin to abide
Explanation
Your abode is where you live. The Queen of England's abode may be far from humble, but it's the home where she rests her weary crown at the end of each day. Though it is often humble, as in, "Welcome to our humble abode," an abode is just a formal way of describing your home. A British solicitor (lawyer) would also use the word abode to describe his office, and if he worked from his home the word would cover both his work and his residence. Interestingly, if you were to substitute the o in the middle of the word for a c, you'd have the first five letters of the alphabet — abcde.
Vocabulary lists containing abode
There's No Word Like Home
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Refugee
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This Week in Words: August 6 - 10, 2018
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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.
It’s not easy to leave one’s abode as the eldest daughter in a Mexican household, she says.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 1, 2026
Talking about the claims, Ajay Kumar Varma described Ayodhya as "god's abode" and said such things should not happen here.
From BBC • Jun. 26, 2026
In one interview, she explained that she had struggled to ever find a property that truly felt like a place she could live forever—that is, until she came across the Sullivan Canyon abode.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 22, 2026
But figuring out the total costs of his new abode was tough.
From Barron's • Jun. 20, 2026
“The garden in which stands my humble abode is separated only by a lane from Rosings Park, her ladyship’s residence.”
From "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen
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.
