Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To approve, encourage, and support (an action or a plan of action); urge and help on.
- transitive verb To urge, encourage, or help (a person).
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act of aiding or encouraging, especially in a crime.
- 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.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete Act of abetting; aid.
- transitive verb To instigate or encourage by aid or countenance; -- used in a bad sense of persons and acts
- transitive verb obsolete To support, uphold, or aid; to maintain; -- in a good sense.
- transitive verb (Law) To contribute, as an assistant or instigator, to the commission of an offense.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb obsolete To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to
bet .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb 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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* 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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"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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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.'
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