abolitionist

American  

[ab-uh-lish-uh-nist] / ˌæb əˈlɪʃ ə nɪst /

noun

• abolitionists
  plural

1. (especially prior to the Civil War) a person who advocated or supported the abolition of slavery in the U.S.

2. a person who favors the abolition of any law or practice deemed harmful to society.

   the abolitionists who are opposed to capital punishment.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• proabolitionist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• abolitionists
  plural

Etymology

Origin of abolitionist

First recorded in 1830–40; abolition + -ist

Explanation

An abolitionist was someone who wanted to end slavery, especially in the United States before the Civil War — when owning slaves was common practice. Back when many landowners in the United States forced slaves to work their land, abolitionists believed that slavery violated the basic human right of freedom, and organized to make slavery illegal, writing anti-slavery literature, proposing new laws, and smuggling slaves into free Canada. The Latin root abolere means “destroy,” and an abolitionist is generally a person who wants to destroy any law or practice, like the abolitionists who fight to end the death penalty.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

abolitionist abolitionists

Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist, came eventually to agree with Lincoln.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026

The bill became the second abolitionist proposal to pass through a committee this spring before time ran out to pass it this session.

From Slate ● Jun. 2, 2026

Nearby, is a large poster, with text penned by famed slavery abolitionist Frederick Douglass, that was carried in a 1863 parade during the Civil War that calls "Men of Color, To Arms! To Arms!"

From Barron's ● May 29, 2026

History textbooks often include the story of the Underground Railroad, an organized network of secret routes, places and people that guided enslaved populations from the South to abolitionist Northern states.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

This was a scathing criticism for a man who had just traveled three thousand miles to attend an abolitionist convention.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling

The book that I’ve written with my colleague Daphna Renan, Supremacy, goes through the history of the court’s power—as well as what people thought of it—from abolitionists through the Civil Rights Movement to the present.

From Slate ● Jul. 13, 2026

Known as prison abolitionists, these groups want to see as many prisons close as possible.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2025

The bill’s stalling is a sign that abolitionists may seem to be on the back foot.

From Slate ● Nov. 21, 2025

Boston’s nonviolent abolitionists failed spectacularly on their own terms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 9, 2025

I remembered all the stories we’d heard in classes about abolitionists and how they’d risk their lives for people who were just like these folks.

From "Elijah of Buxton" by Christopher Paul Curtis