- abase: v. lower; degrade; humiliate. Anna expected to have to curtsy to the King of Siam; when told to cast herself down on the ground before him, however, she refused to ----- herself.
- abash: v. embarrass. He was not at all ----- by her open admiration.
- abate: v. subside or moderate. Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to -----.
- abbreviate: v. shorten. Because we were running out of time, the lecturer had to ------ her speech.
- abdicate: v. renounce; give up. When Edward VIII ----- the British throne, he surprised the entire world.
- aberrant: v. abnormal or deviant. Given the ----- nature of the data, we came to doubt the validity of the entire experiment.
- aberration: n. abnormality; departure from the norm; mental irregularity or disorder. It remain the consensus among investors on Wall Street that current high oil prices are a temporary ----- and that we shall soon see a return to cheap oil.
- abet: v. assist, usually in doing something wrong; encourage. She was unwilling to ----- him in the swindle he had planned.
- abeyance: n. suspended action. The deal was held in ----- until her arrival.
- abhor: adj. detest; hate. She ----- all forms of bigotry.