Abeyance — A Vocabulary Story
Chao and the Great Marble Run
Chao had a magnificent plan: a marble run down the entire staircase, through the hallway, and into a saucepan by the front door. It would ping. It would clatter. It would be glorious.
There was one problem. Dad was painting the hallway, and the whole house smelled of wet walls.
"The marble run stays in abeyance until the paint dries," said Dad, waving his brush like a tiny flag.
Abeyance means a state of being temporarily suspended or not in use.
Chao groaned so loudly the cat left the room. But he fetched his notebook, the one labelled Plans In Abeyance, and wrote MARBLE RUN under FORT MADE OF DELIVERY BOXES and MOAT FOR THE GARDEN.
Waiting was itchy. Chao circled the abeyant marble run three times a day, whispering, "Soon." He polished every marble until they gleamed like tiny planets. He tested the saucepan for maximum clang. He even asked the paint, politely, to hurry up. The paint ignored him.
On Saturday, Dad pressed one finger to the wall and grinned. "Dry! The abeyance is over."
Chao moved like a whirlwind. Cardboard tubes zigzagged down the stairs. Books propped up the corners. His little sister Lin held the saucepan steady, her tongue poking out with concentration.
The first marble dropped. It rattled, swooped, leapt a gap, and landed in the saucepan with a CLONG that made Lin cheer.
"Next," announced Chao grandly, opening his notebook, "the moat comes out of abeyance."
Dad quietly hid the garden spade.
Word Definition
abeyance
meaning
a state of being temporarily suspended or not in use
synonyms
suspension · dormancy · pause · remission · inactivity
antonyms
continuation · operation
example sentence
The old rule was held in abeyance for now.