abolish
[uh-bol-ish]
verb (used with object)
to do away with; put an end to; annul; make void: to abolish slavery.
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
elimination, nullification, dissolution, abrogation, annulment, voidance, invalidation, cancellation, ending, vitiation, defeasance
Nearby words
- aboardage,
- abode,
- abohm,
- aboideau,
- aboil,
- abolition,
- abolitionism,
- abolitionist,
- abolitionists,
- abolitionize
Origin of abolish
1425–75; late Middle English < Middle French aboliss-, long stem of abolir < Latin abolēre to destroy, efface, put an end to; change of conjugation perhaps by association with Latin abolitiō abolition
SYNONYMS FOR abolish
Synonym study
Abolish, eradicate, stamp out mean to do away completely with something. To abolish is to cause to cease, often by a summary order: to abolish a requirement. Stamp out implies forcibly making an end to something considered undesirable or harmful: to stamp out the opium traffic. Eradicate (literally, to tear out by the roots ), a formal word, suggests extirpation, leaving no vestige or trace: to eradicate all use of child labor.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for abolishment
abolish
verb
Word Origin for abolish
C15: from Old French aboliss- (lengthened stem of abolir), ultimately from Latin abolēre to destroy
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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abolish
mid-15c., from Middle French aboliss-, present participle stem of abolir "to abolish" (15c.), from Latin abolere "destroy, cause to die out, retard the growth of," perhaps from ab- "from" (see ab-) + adolere "to grow," from PIE *ol-eye-, causative of root *al- "to grow, nourish" (see old), and perhaps formed as an antonym to adolere. But the Latin word rather could be from a root in common with Greek ollymi, apollymi "destroy." Tucker writes that there has been a confusion of forms in Latin, based on similar roots, one meaning "to grow," the other "to destroy." Application to persons and concrete objects has long been obsolete. Related: Abolished; abolishing.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper