From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishabeyancea‧bey‧ance /əˈbeɪəns/ noun → in abeyance
Examples from the Corpus
abeyance• Theoretically, she can dissolve Parliament without advice, but the right has been in abeyance for years.• The Basqueness that is in abeyance in Biarritz returns in full as you drive south from there towards the frontier.• Like a stranger in a strange land, he travelled with his other life in abeyance.• For some time thereafter matters of defence, policy and filial duties were in abeyance.• In abeyance at the moment is a cricket pitch.• The following year Civil War was declared, and drainage works fell into abeyance.Origin abeyance (1500-1600) Old French abeance “expectation”, from abaer “to desire”, from baer; → ABASHED 