abet
Plural: abets
Verb
Verb Forms: abetted, abetting, abets
- To encourage or assist someone in wrongdoing.
- assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing
- To incite; to assist or encourage by aid or countenance in crime.
- To support, countenance, maintain, uphold, or aid (any good cause, opinion, or action).
- To urge on, stimulate (a person to do) something desirable.
- To back up one's forecast of a doubtful issue, by staking money, etc., to bet.
Noun
- Fraud or cunning.
- An act of abetting; of helping; of giving aid.
Examples
- A good dictionary will abet your efforts to find the perfect word.
- aid and abet
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English abetten, abette, from Old French abeter (“to entice”), from a- (“to”) + beter (“hound on, urge, to bait”), either from Middle Dutch bētan (“incite”) or from Old Norse beita (“to cause to bite, bait, incite”), from Proto-Germanic *baitijaną (“to cause to bite”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”). Cognate with Icelandic beita (“to set dogs on; to feed”).
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 source (Proto-Germanic *baitijaną).
See also bait, bet.
Synonyms
abet, actuate, approve, bring about, cheer, collude, connive, conspire, drive, egg on, encourage, engender, evoke, excite, foment, goad, grill, ignite, impel, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, invoke, lash, motivate, motive, move, obligate, oblige, patronize, promote, prompt, provoke, push, rouse, sanction, send, set off, spark off, spur, spur on, stimulate, sting, stir, stir up, stoke, support, tempt, tolerate, urge, whet, whip up
Antonyms
abet, assist, baffle, confound, counteract, denounce, deter, expedite, facilitate, further, help, hurdle, nurture
Scrabble Score: 6
abet: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordabet: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
abet: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary