Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Reduction in amount, degree, or intensity; diminution.
  • noun The amount lowered; a reduction.
  • noun Law The act of reducing something, such as a tax, for some period of time or of eliminating something, such as a nuisance, permanently.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of abating, or the state of being abated; diminution, decrease, reduction, or mitigation: as, abatement of grief or pain.
  • noun The amount, quantity, or sum by which anything is abated or reduced; deduction; decrease.
  • noun In heraldry, a mark annexed to coat-armor, in order to denote some dishonorable act of the person bearing the coat of arms, or his illegitimate descent.
  • noun In law: Removal or destruction, as of a nuisance.
  • noun Failure; premature end; suspension or diminution, as of an action or of a legacy. See abate.
  • noun The act of intruding on a freehold vacated by the death of its former owner, and not yet entered on by the heir or devisee.
  • noun In revenue law:
  • noun A deduction from or refunding of duties on goods damaged during importation or in store.
  • noun A deduction from the amount of a tax. The mode of abatement is prescribed by statute.
  • noun In carpentry, the waste of a piece of stuff caused by working it into shape.
  • noun Rebate, allowance, deduction, discount, mitigation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of abating, or the state of being abated; a lessening, diminution, or reduction; removal or putting an end to.
  • noun The amount abated; that which is taken away by way of reduction; deduction; decrease; a rebate or discount allowed.
  • noun (Her.) A mark of dishonor on an escutcheon.
  • noun (Law) The entry of a stranger, without right, into a freehold after the death of the last possessor, before the heir or devisee.
  • noun (Law) plea to the effect that from some formal defect (e.g. misnomer, lack of jurisdiction) the proceedings should be abated.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of abating
  • noun an interruption in the intensity or amount of something

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle French abatement, from Old French abatre. Equivalent to abate (“to beat down”) +‎ -ment (“the result of”).

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Examples

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  • The villagers awaited the abatement of the flood waters to cross the river.

    마�?� 사람들�?� 강�?� 건너기 위해 �?수가 잦아들기를 기다렸다.

    March 31, 2009

  • Sustainability research- "Finally, we provide a measure of cost-effectiveness for solid-state lighting in the context of other climate change abatement policies."

    November 1, 2010

  • "The morrow produced no abatement of Mrs. Bennet's ill-humour or ill health." - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

    August 16, 2015