abort

American  

[uh-bawrt] / əˈbɔrt /

verb (used without object)

1. to bring forth a fetus from the uterus before the fetus is viable; miscarry.

2. to develop incompletely; remain in a rudimentary or undeveloped state.

3. to fail, cease, or stop at an early or premature stage.

4. Military. to fail to accomplish a purpose or mission for any reason other than enemy action.

5. Rocketry. (of a missile) to stop before the scheduled flight is completed.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cause to bring forth (a fetus) from the uterus before the fetus is viable.

2. to cause (a pregnant female) to be delivered of a nonviable fetus.

3. to cause to cease or end at an early or premature stage.

   We aborted our vacation when the car broke down.

4. to terminate (a missile flight, mission, etc.) before completion.

5. to put down or quell in the early stages.

   Troops aborted the uprising.

noun

1. a missile, rocket, etc., that has aborted.

abort British  

/ əˈbɔːt /

verb

1. to undergo or cause (a woman) to undergo the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable

2. (tr) to cause (a fetus) to be expelled from the womb before it is viable

3. (intr) to fail to come to completion; go wrong

4. (tr) to stop the development of; cause to be abandoned

5. (intr) to give birth to a dead or nonviable fetus

6. (of a space flight, military operation, etc) to fail or terminate prematurely

7. (intr) (of an organism or part of an organism) to fail to develop into the mature form

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noun

1. the premature termination or failure of (a space flight, military operation, etc)

Other Word Forms

• unaborted adjective

Etymology

Origin of abort

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin abortus “miscarried,” past participle of aborīrī “to disappear, miscarry,” equivalent to ab- ab- + orīrī “to rise, come into being”; orient ( def. )

Example Sentences

Pilots on the Mesa Airlines flight decided that the separation between their craft and the one taking off was insufficient and initiated a go-around, where a landing is aborted.

From Los Angeles Times

Had the ball struck the girl, he would almost certainly have been defaulted and seen another attempt at number 25 aborted by his own carelessness.

From BBC

Another attempt at a record 25th major title could have been aborted by his own carelessness.

From BBC

Executives learned in October 2020 that batches of AstraZeneca’s vaccine had to be aborted and were contaminated due to production issues.

From The Wall Street Journal

Imagineering leaders are also trying to restore morale employees say was pummeled by a decade of layoffs, conflicts with corporate leadership and an aborted plan to move the team to Florida.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• break off
• cut off
• halt
• interrupt
• nullify
• scrap
• scrub
• terminate