Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To approve, encourage, and support (an action or a plan of action); urge and help on.
- transitive v. To urge, encourage, or help (a person): abetted the thief in robbing the bank.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. Act of abetting; aid.
- transitive v. To instigate or encourage by aid or countenance; -- used in a bad sense of persons and acts
- transitive v. To support, uphold, or aid; to maintain; -- in a good sense.
- transitive v. To contribute, as an assistant or instigator, to the commission of an offense.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To encourage by aid or approval: used with a personal object, and chiefly in a bad sense.
- To maintain; support; uphold.
- In law, to encourage, counsel, incite, or assist in a criminal act — implying, in the case of felony, personal presence.
- Hence To lead to or encourage the commission of.
- Synonyms To support, encourage, second, countenance, aid, assist, back, connive at, stand by, further.
- n. The act of aiding or encouraging, especially in a crime.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- v. assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
Examples
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* The proposed five-year sentence for those who "abet" a same-sex relationship is greater than the punishment stipulated in the bill for those who enter into a "same gender marriage."
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The proposed five-year sentence for those who "abet" a same-sex relationship is greater than the punishment stipulated in the bill for those who enter into a "same gender marriage."
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And the very first item is talking about how the Army is aiding and abetting (did you catch their use of the word "abet"?
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They aid and abet, with tax money from our government.
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We've looked at every civilian assistance program and contract and we've said, 'look, we're not going to just aid and abet bad behavior.'
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"It will likely mark a turning point in the government's effort to pursue those who aid and abet organized crime and mark a new low for public trust in the government's ability to address the problem."
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Thus, the President argued a limited moral case for the merits of the war, a projection of force in self-defense against those who would harbor, aid, and abet those who attacked us.
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But a vote for him will aid and abet a Democratic leadership that's hell bent on an expansion of government that's a radical departure from the nation's bedrock principles and ruinous in its economic implications.
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It is high time we put an end to or radically reform environments that aid and abet such behavior.
Christopher Atamian: Sandusky, Paterno and College Football: the Bigger Picture
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LIEBERMAN COULD BE THE DECIDING VOTE IN THE 112TH CONGRESS - The Hill's J.T. Rushing anticipates a charred, post-apocalyptic legislative wasteland where even resolutions acknowledging the contributions of Boys and Girls Club volunteers are held up for months so one light bulb-headed man can take more time to mull over how it will aide and abet Hezbollah.
shanvrolijk commented on the word abet
This is what we get for abetting supernaturalism in defense of tradition. Ah, well, at least we're respected.
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2018/01/kurt-andersen-how-religion-turned-american-politics-against-science.html
January 27, 2018