ABEYANCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does abeyance mean? 

• ABEYANCE (noun)
  The noun ABEYANCE has 1 sense:

1. temporary cessation or suspension

  Familiarity information: ABEYANCE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ABEYANCE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Temporary cessation or suspension

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

abeyance; suspension

Hypernyms ("abeyance" is a kind of...):

inaction; inactiveness; inactivity (the state of being inactive)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "abeyance"):

cold storage (in a state of abeyance or postponement)

deferral; recess (a state of abeyance or suspended business)

moratorium (suspension of an ongoing activity)

stand-down; standdown (a suspension and relaxation from an alert state or a state of readiness)

Derivation:

abeyant (inactive but capable of becoming active)

 Context examples 

"Our judgment must still be in abeyance," said Professor Challenger, with a huge slab of whitish-colored flesh across his knee.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)