abolitionist

American  

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

noun

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

• proabolitionist noun

Etymology

Origin of abolitionist

First recorded in 1830–40; abolition + -ist

Example Sentences

His mother, who introduced him at age 5 to Walden Pond, was an abolitionist who ran a station on the Underground Railroad, for which he would act as a conductor.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2026

Stanton enjoyed what appears to have been a happy marriage to Henry, an abolitionist attorney and journalist who was 10 years her senior.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

Refusing to fight back, writes Mr. Kurlansky, Garrison “showed how an abolitionist should face a mob.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 9, 2025

“Power concedes nothing without a demand,” she told a crowd gathered in Sproul Plaza on that October Thursday in 1964, quoting abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 5, 2025

“I couldn’t let them say such things. They called him an abolitionist, too. Said he hides runaway slaves in his own house.”

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan