aborning

American

[uh-bawr-ning] / əˈbɔr nɪŋ /

adverb

in birth; before being carried out.

The scheme died aborning.

adjective

being born; coming into being, fruition, realization, etc..

A new era of architecture is aborning.

aborning British

/ əˈbɔːnɪŋ /

adverb

while being born, developed, or realized (esp in the phrase die aborning )

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of aborning

1930–35; a- ¹ + borning irregular for being born; see born, -ing ²

Vocabulary lists containing aborning

Developing

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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.

See Examples For:

aborning

The manufacturing revival is still aborning, for example, with only 5,000 new jobs after months of declines.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026

On the Australian Embassy, the vertical ribs are the russet color of new copper, just aborning.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 17, 2022

The wish for a movie museum, long aborning in status-conscious Hollywood, found a home.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2021

But before a single plane could get off the ground, Kelleher had to fight the incumbent carriers — Braniff, Texas International and Continental — which were determined to kill it aborning.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 6, 2019

But it had "died aborning" and as a city did not exist.

From A Backward Glance at Eighty Recollections & comment by Charles A. (Charles Albert) Murdock

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023