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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

abode.

Act of waiting; delay.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈbəʊd/Received-Pronunciation/əˈboʊd/US[ʔəˈboʊːd̥̚]US
  1. Act of waiting; delay.

    obsolete
  2. Stay or continuance in a place; sojourn.

    dated
  3. A residence, dwelling or habitation.

    formal
    of no fixed abode
    humble abode
Where this word comes from

From Middle English abod, abad, from Old English *ābād, related to ābīdan (“to abide”); see abide. Cognate with Scots abade, abaid (“abode”). For the change of nouns, compare abode, preterite of abide.

noun/əˈbəʊd/Received-Pronunciation/əˈboʊd/US[ʔəˈboʊːd̥̚]US
  1. An omen; a foretelling.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From an alteration (with bode) of Middle English abeden (“to announce”), from Old English ābēodan (“to command, proclaim”), from a- + bēodan (“to command, proclaim”). Superficial analysis is a- + bode (“presage, portend, announce”).

verb/əˈbəʊd/Received-Pronunciation/əˈboʊd/US[ʔəˈboʊːd̥̚]US
  1. To bode; to foreshow; to presage.

    obsolete · transitive
  2. To be ominous.

    intransitive · obsolete
Where this word comes from

From an alteration (with bode) of Middle English abeden (“to announce”), from Old English ābēodan (“to command, proclaim”), from a- + bēodan (“to command, proclaim”). Superficial analysis is a- + bode (“presage, portend, announce”).

verb/əˈbəʊd/Received-Pronunciation/əˈboʊd/US[ʔəˈboʊːd̥̚]US
  1. simple past and past participle of abide

    form-of · participle · past
Where this word comes from

From Middle English abod, abad, from Old English *ābād, related to ābīdan (“to abide”); see abide. Cognate with Scots abade, abaid (“abode”). For the change of nouns, compare abode, preterite of abide.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.