Oxford Business English Dictionary for Learners of English

AAA /,tripl 'ei/ = triple-A AA rating /,ei 'ei/ = average audience rating ^abandon /9'basnd9n/ verb[+ obj] 1 to stop doing sth, especially before it is finished; to stop having or using sth: The group has been forced to abandon its plan to raise capacity by 8%. о The company was abandoned by many of its customers.

(Insurance) to give up the legal ownership of sth, such as a ship or cargo that has been damaged, to an insurance company in exchange for an insurance payment, especially when the cost of repairing it is more than its total value

(Law) to stop trying to make a claim in a court: The claim was abandoned with the permission of the court.

abandonment /a'baendanmant/ noun [u] idiom at ship

abate /a'beit/ verb [+ obj or no obj] to become less strong; to make sth less strong: The three-year recession showed no signs of abating.

abatement/iou/i [u]

ab breviated ac'counts noun [pi.] (BrE) (Accounting) a type of financial record that contains

ABO 2

less detail than normal, which small companies can produce for official records

abc1 /,el bi: si: 'waii/ noun [u] {BrE) (,Marketing) the top three social and economic groups in a society, used to refer to these groups as possible customers for particular products: 41% of ABC1 women aged between 15 and 24 read a weekly women's magazine. -» C2DE

'A/'B/'C share (also class 'A/'B/'C share) noun [c, usually pi.]

{Finance) in the UK, different types of shares that give the owners different rights or have different restrictions. People who own A shares usually do not have a vote at meetings of shareholders. -> ordinary share

lability /a'bilati/ noun {pluralabilities)

[sing ] the fact that sb is able to do sth: Candidates must have the ability to work in a team under pressure.

[C,u] a level of skill or intelligence: I want an opportunity to prove my abilities.

a.bility-to-'pay .principle noun [sing ] {Economics) a theory that states that people who earn more money should pay more tax, so that there are higher rates of tax on higher incomes -> benefit principle

* abolish /9'bDliJ"; AmE э'Ьа:1-/ verb [+ obj] to officially end a law, a system or an institution: Instead of abolishing the estate tax, why not reform it? ► abolition /.aeba'lijn/ noun [U]: the abolition of exchange controls

a, bove [1] par adjective {Finance) (used about the price of a share, bond, etc.) higher than the price at which it was first made available for sale (the nominal price): The gilts achieved a price above par. о above-par securities

a.bove the fold adverb {IT) in the top part of a web page that you see first on the screen: Four ads are always shown above the fold. ► a.bove the 'fold adjective: above-the-fold

ads -> below the fold

a,bove-the-'line adjective [usually before noun]

(Accounting) relating to the normal business costs and income that form a company's total profit: Rawmaterials are usually recorded as above-the-linecosts.

{Accounting) in the US, relating to costs that everyone can take away from their income to calculate their total (gross) income before they pay tax: an above-the-line deduction for college tuition expenses

(Marketing) relating to advertising that uses one of the main ways of telling large numbers of people about a product, for example advertisements on television, in newspapers or outdoors: Л budget of over $10 million has been allocated to above-the-line advertising, о The marketing mix includes above- the-line promotion.

► a,bove-the-'line adverb: Property costs will be taken above-the-line. -> below-the-line

ABS /,eibi: 'es/ abbr {Finance) asset-backed securities; asset-backed securitization: The rise of the ABS market continues. -» asset-backed