abort

[uh-bawrt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR abort ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used without object)

to bring forth a fetus from the uterus before the fetus is viable; miscarry.

to develop incompletely; remain in a rudimentary or undeveloped state.

to fail, cease, or stop at an early or premature stage.

Military. to fail to accomplish a purpose or mission for any reason other than enemy action.

Rocketry. (of a missile) to stop before the scheduled flight is completed.

verb (used with object)

to cause to bring forth (a fetus) from the uterus before the fetus is viable.

to cause (a pregnant female) to be delivered of a nonviable fetus.

to cause to cease or end at an early or premature stage: We aborted our vacation when the car broke down.

to terminate (a missile flight, mission, etc.) before completion.

to put down or quell in the early stages: Troops aborted the uprising.

noun

a missile, rocket, etc., that has aborted.

Origin of abort

1570–80; < Latin abortus miscarried (past participle of aborīrī to disappear, miscarry) equivalent to ab- ab- + -or- come into being + -tus past participle suffix

Related formsun·a·bort·ed, adjective

Can be confusedaboard abort abroad

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for abort

scrub, halt, scrap, terminate, nullify, interrupt, miscarry, end, scratch, drop, arrest, fail, check

Examples from the Web for abort

Contemporary Examples of abort

Ellen makes her choice, and she throws herself down the stairs to abort the baby.
Why Deny the Obvious: Hollywood’s Backward Stance on Abortion
Teo Bugbee
June 10, 2014
They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton.
What Cliven Bundy’s Famous Backers Said, Before and After
Olivia Nuzzi
April 25, 2014
Well, Sarah Palin is travelling across the country alerting people that “angry atheists” want to “abort Christ from Christmas.”
It’s Conservatives Who Really Want Christ Out of Christmas
Dean Obeidallah
December 17, 2013
All of a sudden, Mission Control (voiced by Ed Harris, paying homage to Apollo 13) orders the team to abort immediately.
Alfonso Cuarón On His Spellbinding Sci-Fi Film ‘Gravity,’ Starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney
Marlow Stern
September 1, 2013
Stand with the pink-sneakered Texas legislator and her fight to allow mothers to abort babies past the 20th week of pregnancy?
Kirsten Powers: I Don’t Stand With Wendy Davis
Kirsten Powers
July 2, 2013

Historical Examples of abort

Abort the middle there was au arm-hole with a shutter or flap over it.
The Malay Archipelago
Alfred Russell Wallace
And if I am to endure it much longer, I shall have to abort.
The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century
Leo Wiener
It was on that train I learned my first German word "abort" meaning bathroom.
The Biography of a Rabbit
Roy Benson
"I thought we'd abort this mission before we were through," he sneered.
The Trouble with Telstar
John Berryman
I've tried my best to abort this big bug, but I can't find anything amiss.
Tight Squeeze
Dean Charles Ing

British Dictionary definitions for abort

abort

verb

to undergo or cause (a woman) to undergo the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable

(tr) to cause (a fetus) to be expelled from the womb before it is viable

(intr) to fail to come to completion; go wrong

(tr) to stop the development of; cause to be abandoned

(intr) to give birth to a dead or nonviable fetus

(of a space flight, military operation, etc) to fail or terminate prematurely

(intr) (of an organism or part of an organism) to fail to develop into the mature form

noun

the premature termination or failure of (a space flight, military operation, etc)

Word Origin for abort

C16: from Latin abortāre, from the past participle of aborīrī to miscarry, from ab- wrongly, badly + orīrī to appear, arise, be born

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

Word Origin and History for abort

1570s, "to miscarry," from Latin abortus, past participle of aboriri "to miscarry" (see abortive); 1610s as "to deliberately terminate" anything, but especially a pregnancy, which seems to be the literal sense. Transitive meaning "to cause a woman to miscarry" is recorded from 1933. Related: Aborted; aborting.

abort in Medicine

abort

[ə-bôrt′]

v.

To expel or cause to expel an embryo or fetus before it is viable.

To arrest a disease in its earliest stages.

To arrest in growth or development; to cause to remain rudimentary.