Abet Definition

ə-bĕt
abets, abetted, abetting
verb
To approve, encourage, and support (an action or a plan of action); urge and help on.
American Heritage
To incite, sanction, or help, esp. in wrongdoing.
Webster's New World
To urge, encourage, or help (a person).
Abetted the thief in robbing the bank.
American Heritage
To actively, knowingly, and/or intentionally aid, encourage, incite, instigate, or otherwise support the commission of an act.
Webster's New World Law

To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime. [First attested from around (1350 to 1470).]

Wiktionary
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
noun
(obsolete) Fraud or cunning. [First attested from 1150 to 1350.]
Wiktionary

(obsolete) An act of abetting; of helping; of giving aid. [First attested from 1350 to 1470.]

Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Origin of Abet

  • Middle English abetten from Old French abeter to entice a- to (from Latin ad- ad–) beter to bait bheid- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Alternate etymology traces the Middle English and Old French words through Old English *ābǣtan (“to hound on”), from ā- + bǣtan (“to bait”), from the same Proto-Germanic source.

    From Wiktionary

  • See also bait, bet.

    From Wiktionary

Abet Sentence Examples

  • Try not to aid, abet, counsel or procure dishonesty.

  • He could not but view Ali in the light of an accomplice, because if, as he protested, he did not abet the murderers, yet he took them under his protection.

  • A period of elimination may be necessary in order to allow the intestines to heal, which may, in turn, help the patient's digestive prowess restore and abet certain food sensitivities.

  • Here also psychology, by its elucidation of the important part which instinctive appetites and animal impulses play in the development of intelligence, still more perhaps by arguments (based largely upon the examination of hypnotic subjects or the phenomena of fixed ideas) which show the permanent influence of irrational or semi-rational suggestions or habits upon human conduct, has done much to aid and abet idealists in their contentions.

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Words Starting With

AABABE

Words Ending With

TETBET

Unscrambles

abet

Words Starting With A and Ending With T

Starts With A & Ends With TStarts With AB & Ends With TStarts With A & Ends With ET

Word Length

4 Letter Words4 Letter Words Starting With A4 Letter Words Ending With T