Word of the Day

: April 2, 2018

abide

verb uh-BYDE

What It Means

1 a : to bear patiently : tolerate

b : to endure without yielding : withstand

2 : to wait for : await

3 : to accept without objection

4 : to remain stable or fixed in a state

5 : to continue in a place : sojourn

abide in Context

Susan has been a vegetarian for years and can no longer abide even the smell of cooked meat.

"They plainly abided a situation that was intolerable, and they shouldn't have done it." — Robert F. Bauer, The New York Times, 20 Feb. 2018

Did You Know?

Abide may sound rather old-fashioned these days. The word has been around since before the 12th century, but it is a bit rare now, except in certain specialized uses. Even more archaic to our modern ear is abidden, the original past participle of abide. Today, both the past tense and the past participle of abide are served by either abode or abided, with abided being the more frequent choice. Abide turns up often in the phrase "can't (or couldn't) abide." The expression abide by, which means "to conform to" or "to acquiesce in," is also common. Related terms include the participial adjective abiding (which means "enduring" or "continuing," as in "an abiding interest in nature"), the noun abidance ("continuance" or "compliance"), and the noun abode ("residence").