abut
Americanverb (used without object)
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abuts,
present (3rd person singular)
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abutted,
past participle, past
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abutting
present participle
verb (used with object)
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abuts,
present (3rd person singular)
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abutted,
past participle, past
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abutting
present participle
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to be adjacent to; border on; end at.
-
to support by an abutment.
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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abutsimple
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abutssimple
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have abuttedperfect
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has abuttedperfect
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am abuttingprogressive
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are abuttingprogressive
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is abuttingprogressive
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have been abuttingperfect progressive
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has been abuttingperfect progressive
Past
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abuttedsimple
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had abuttedperfect
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was abuttingprogressive
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were abuttingprogressive
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had been abuttingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of abut
1425–75; late Middle English < Middle French, Old French abuter touch at one end, verbal derivative of a but to (the) end; see a- 5, butt 2
Explanation
When something borders something else, it is said to abut it. The term is often used in real estate to refer to a lot line. Wouldn’t it be nice to have your back yard abut a forest preserve or park? The Old French word but meant "end" — think of "butt" for a crude way to remember that! — and it was joined to a-, from the Latin ad- "near to." The result was abuter, which meant "to touch at an end." The word eventually became abouter, meaning "to join at the ends, or border on." The idea of abut suggesting a common boundary comes from the late Middle English, and today we use the word when anything touches something else.
Vocabulary lists containing abut
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Close Encounters: Synonyms for "Near"
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Internment
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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:
That puts the rest of the oil-producing countries that abut the Persian Gulf in a bind.
From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026
TotalEnergies will likely remain cautious abut its balance sheet and announce a $750 million share buyback, they write.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 21, 2026
It would likely upzone single-family neighborhoods in Arleta, Panorama City and other communities that abut a north-south rail line being built along Van Nuys Boulevard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2025
But after Lord Leveson published his report into the ethics of the press, police forces became much more cautious abut what information they released.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2025
One end of it opened on the parvis of the Cathedral; the other and quieter end appeared to abut on the west gate of the town.
From Historical Romances: Under the Red Robe, Count Hannibal, A Gentleman of France by Stanley J. Weyman
His 31-acre property abuts the Terafab site and shares about 4,000 feet of fence with Musk’s land.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 17, 2026
The seven-story addition directly abuts the original building without seeming to touch it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026
Her family's home is part of a suburban development that abuts a massive construction site.
From Barron's ● Dec. 3, 2025
His kids were baptized in the Windmill Chapel, which abuts the lake and looks as if it had been magically transported from the Netherlands.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 19, 2025
In London, where the river Thames arches away from the city near Belgravia, one might begin a walk at Vincent Square, the trapezoid-shaped park that abuts the office of the Royal Horticultural Society.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The Van Ruijvens’ home in the 1660s and ’70s, a canalside house named the Golden Eagle, abutted a clandestine Remonstrant church and doubled as a Collegiant meetinghouse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Some of their farms even abutted the graveyard.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2023
The library, which abutted the street, violated that policy.
From Washington Times ● Jul. 20, 2023
These efforts were often unsuccessful, however, and poor neighborhoods often abutted even the most prestigious ones.
From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022
And since some of Crosby’s rooms abutted ours, he was an obvious person to interview.
From "Confessions of a Murder Suspect" by James Patterson
An unknown projectile hit a cargo ship in the strategic Strait of Hormuz abutting Iran, causing a fire and forcing the crew to evacuate, a maritime security agency said.
From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026
The teen told Williams he was going to meet friends at the dirt road abutting the store.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
The line of cars crawled toward the parking lot and into an overflow field abutting a baseball complex.
From Slate ● Sep. 25, 2024
The IAA identified the jugs as Canaanite, a people who resided in the lands abutting the eastern Mediterranean.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 20, 2024
In the broad, covered corridor—the colonnaded kuthambalam abutting the heart of the temple where the Blue God lived with his flute, the drummers drummed and the dancers danced, their colors turning slowly in the night.
From "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy
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.
