abeyant

English

WOTD – 12 July 2019

Etymology

Back-formation from abeyance +‎ -ant.[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /əˈbeɪ(ə)nt/
Audio (RP) (file)
Audio (CA) (file)
Hyphenation: abey‧ant

Adjective

abeyant (comparative more abeyant, superlative most abeyant)

Being in a state of abeyance; suspended. [from mid 19th c.][2]
Synonyms: dormant, inactive, latent; see also Thesaurus:inactive
- 1835, Richard Bligh, reporter, “Slane Peerage Case”, in New Reports of Cases Heard in the House of Lords, on Appeals and Writs of Error; and Decided during the Session 1836, volume X, London: Saunders and Benning, law booksellers, (successors to J. Butterworth and Son,) […], published 1838, OCLC 857923669, page 87:
  This statute, and that in favour of the heirs general before mentioned, would of themselves, it is submitted, establish that the barony of Slane, was neither a peerage in fee nor a palatine honor. Had it been the former, it would have become abeyant between the heirs general: had it been the latter, it would have been annihilated by the non-possession of the lands.
- 2005, Chester A[rthur] Crocker; Fen Osler Hampson; Pamela R. Aall, “Introduction: Mapping the Nettle Field”, in Chester A. Crocker, Fen Osler Hampson, and Pamela Aall, editors, Grasping the Nettle: Analyzing Cases of Intractable Conflict, Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press, →ISBN, page 11:
  In abeyant intractable conflicts violence is suspended, or "frozen" (i.e., they have gone into remission), usually because a third party is willing and able to guarantee the terms of a negotiated cease-fire—a cease-fire that may also include the broad outlines of a political settlement.
- 2013, William Nester, “Total War”, in The Age of Lincoln and the Art of American Power, 1848–1876, Lincoln, Neb.: Potomac Books, University of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, part 2 (Civil War, 1861–1865), page 202:
  So even where extraordinary circumstances render civilian courts abeyant, the civilian law must be reintroduced as soon as the emergency ends.
- 2013 October, Jonathan L. Howard, “In which there is a Battle and Cabal Makes It Quick”, in Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Dunne Books, →ISBN, page 200:
  Having placed an abeyant death sentence on Corde's head, he turned his attention to Bose, who, for his part, looked vapid and without a shred of malice or machinatory instinct about him, a soft toy in the great department store of life.

Translations

being in a state of abeyance — See also translations at suspended

Chinese:
Mandarin: 中止的 (zhōngzhǐde), 未定的 (wèidìngde)
Italian: in sospeso
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: gîrokirî (ku), helweşandî (ku)

References

“abeyant, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2011; “abeyant”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abeyant”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, volume I, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 4.