001) abate
Something that abates becomes fewer or less intense. Your enthusiasm for skiing might abate after falling off a ski lift and getting a mouthful of snow. It means to reduce or become less intense or numerous. As an intransitive verb, it is often used with something physically, emotionally, or figuratively violent, as in "the flood of fan mail began to abate." Using it transitively, if you take measures to abate pollution or noise, you reduce them.
002) abbreviate
To abbreviate is to shorten. Words are often abbreviated, like when we say sked instead of schedule. Though we most often think about words being abbreviated — especially terms like OMG and LOL for "oh my God" and "laugh out loud" — lots of things can be abbreviated. You just have to shorten them. Sudden rain might abbreviate a baseball game. A bomb threat would abbreviate a school day. Anytime something is being shortened or cut, abbreviation is going on.
003) abide
Abide means "to be able to live with or put up with." If you can't abide with something, it means you can't stand it. If you can abide it, it means you can live with it. Another definition of abide is "to live" — think of abode, as in "dwelling." If you abide by the rules, it means you live with them, and you will follow them. If you can't abide your sister's shrill violin playing, it means you can't live with it, you can't be in the house when she's practicing. You abide something you don't like, like your teacher's long stories about math. It's not a pleasant experience, but what choice do you have?
004) abort
To abort something is to end it. When something is aborted, it's finished. In a movie, you may have seen people on some kind of mission yelling "Abort! Abort!" That means "Stop!" When you abort a plan or activity, you're ending it, usually prematurely. If you abort a dinner, you cancel it in the middle. If the police abort a raid, they stop it after it has already begun. A writer could abort a novel after writing a chapter or two. You can't abort something that hasn't been started: that's more like canceling or postponing.
005) abscond
Abscond is to escape, often taking something along. As a kid, you may have absconded from your lemonade stand — with the coffee can of cash in hand, and your bewildered sister still filling cups for your customers. Abscond is generally used to describe someone running from law or capture. Dogs who get off the leash and dart into the woods are not necessarily absconding; they are simply making a break for it.
006) absorb
To absorb is to take in or suck up like a sponge. If you don't hear your mother calling because you are reading, you could say you were absorbed in the book. If your parents buy groceries for a party you are throwing and don't make you pay, you could say that they decided to absorb the cost of the food. Young minds absorb information easily. The word, absorbent, describes something that is capable of absorbing something else. When you go swimming on a chilly day, it's best to carry an absorbent towel so that all of the water is absorbed from the surface of your skin.
007) abstain
If you abstain from something, you restrain yourself from consuming it. People usually abstain from things that are considered vices — like eating French fries every day for lunch. It often refers to people who hold themselves back from indulging in habits that are bad for them, physically or morally. Abstain can also mean to withhold a vote, and sometimes a difficult decision is stalled when government representatives abstain from voting one way or another.
008) abuse
If you abuse someone, it means you are hurting that person, mentally, emotionally, or physically. If someone else is harming you, you are yourself suffering from abuse. Abuse also refers to anything that is employed improperly or to excess, such as the abuse of alcohol or drugs.
009) accede
If you accede, it means you agree with someone or give in to his or her wish. The word is often used in a political context — the Queen acceded to the Prince's demands for more territory, a larger army, and funnier jesters. Accede can also be used for everyday situations. If you accede to your mother's request that you come home before ten, it means you'll be missing that midnight movie with your friends. It differs slightly from concede, which also means consent, but a more reluctant kind.If you were to concede to your mom's 10 PM curfew rather than accede to it, you'd be doing so against your will.
010) accelerate
Accelerate means to speed up. A car accelerates when you step on the gas. You can accelerate the process of getting a visa if you happen to know someone who works in the consulate. The fastest Amtrak trains are called the Acela line, a made-up word intended to suggest accelerate and therefore communicate that these trains are fast. If you are standing close to one when it zooms by, you may find yourself having an accelerated heart rate — they move pretty fast!