abolition
Americannoun
-
the act of abolishing or the state of being abolished: the abolition of capital punishment;
the abolition of war;
the abolition of capital punishment;
the abolition of unfair taxes.
- Synonyms:
- repeal, revocation, invalidation, nullification, elimination, eradication, annihilation
- Antonyms:
- establishment
-
the legal prohibition of slavery, especially the institutional enslavement of Black people in the U.S.
noun
-
the act of abolishing or the state of being abolished; annulment
-
(often capital) (in British territories) the ending of the slave trade (1807) or the ending of slavery (1833): accomplished after a long campaign led by William Wilberforce
-
(often capital) (in the US) the emancipation of the slaves, accomplished by the Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1863 and ratified in 1865
Other Word Forms
- abolitionary adjective
- abolitionism noun
- abolitionist noun
- nonabolition noun
- proabolition adjective
Etymology
Origin of abolition
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin abolitiōn- (stem of abolitiō ), equivalent to abolit(us) “effaced, destroyed,” past participle of abolēre “to destroy, efface” + -iōn- noun suffix; abolish, -ion
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Students also called for the abolition of ICE and spoke of wanting the school board to rescind what they regard as anti-LGBTQ+ policies.
From Los Angeles Times
Seven of the county's local authorities had written to the government saying they wanted to postpone over concerns about going to the polls ahead of the potential abolition of some of them.
From BBC
Alinejad is one of the most prominent dissident campaigners against Iranian authorities and for years has pushed for the abolition of the obligatory headscarf in Iran under the banner of "MyStealthyFreedom."
From Barron's
The story of slavery’s abolition in the Atlantic world is often told from a top-down perspective.
“It means somebody who wants to...abolition something.”
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
