Skip to content

abordar

to approach

verb ah-bohr-DAHR Less Common

Also means

to board

Usage Note

Abordar means both to board a vessel or vehicle (abordar el barco) and to tackle or approach a subject (abordar el tema). The latter figurative sense is extremely common in journalism and academic writing. From the nautical root bordo (side of a ship), it shares an origin with English 'aboard'.

Examples

"Hay que abordar este problema con cuidado."

Natural Translation

This problem must be approached carefully.

Free starter pack

Building your Spanish vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common Spanish words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore Spanish by topic