abiding
- 01 C1 Advanced
adj.describing a feeling, interest, or belief that you have had for a long time and will likely keep forever.
adj.continuing or persisting in the same state without change; often used to describe deep-seated emotions or convictions.
Simple“He has an abiding love for the mountains where he grew up.”
In context“Despite the political shifts of the last decade, she maintained an abiding faith in the power of local community action.”
UsageUsually placed before the noun it modifies.
- 02 C2 Proficiency
n.an old word for a home or a place where someone stays.
n.a dwelling place or abode; the state of residing in a specific location.
Simple“The old stories speak of a secret abiding deep within the forest.”
In context“The poet sought a permanent abiding, weary of the transient life he had led across the continent.”
Teacher's tipThis noun sense is obsolete in modern speech; learners will only encounter it in historical literature or poetry.
“It is just the abiding memory is an awful ending of only one win from 17 matches, a horror run that left Root and his team broken.”
“As the historian writes in The Romanov Sisters , Alexandra was a “woman whose abiding virtue—and one that, perversely, destroyed them all in the end—was a fatal excess” of maternal love.”
Present participle or participial adjective from abide (verb) + -ing; or, from Middle English participle form of abiden, abyden (“to abide”).
From Middle English abydynge, abidynge, -inge [verbal noun of abiden, abyden (“to abide”)], from Old English abīdung; or, verbal noun from abide (verb) + -ing.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.