abate
verb /əˈbeɪt/
/əˈbeɪt/
[intransitive, transitive] (formal)Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they abate | /əˈbeɪt/ /əˈbeɪt/ |
| he / she / it abates | /əˈbeɪts/ /əˈbeɪts/ |
| past simple abated | /əˈbeɪtɪd/ /əˈbeɪtɪd/ |
| past participle abated | /əˈbeɪtɪd/ /əˈbeɪtɪd/ |
| -ing form abating | /əˈbeɪtɪŋ/ /əˈbeɪtɪŋ/ |
- to become less intense or severe; to make something less intense or severe
- The storm showed no signs of abating.
- They waited for the crowd’s fury to abate.
- abate something Steps are to be taken to abate pollution.
Oxford Collocations DictionaryAbate is used with these nouns as the subject:- anger
- fear
- storm
- …
Word OriginMiddle English (in the legal sense): from Old French abatre ‘to fell’, from a- (from Latin ad ‘to, at’) + batre ‘to beat’ (from Latin battere, battuere ‘to beat’).