abort

[ uh-bawrt ]

verb (used without object)

1. to bring forth a fetus from the uterus before the fetus is viable; miscarry.
2. to develop incompletely; remain in a rudimentary or undeveloped state.
3. to fail, cease, or stop at an early or premature stage.
4. Military. to fail to accomplish a purpose or mission for any reason other than enemy action.
5. Rocketry. (of a missile) to stop before the scheduled flight is completed.

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to bring forth (a fetus) from the uterus before the fetus is viable.
2. to cause (a pregnant female) to be delivered of a nonviable fetus.
3. to cause to cease or end at an early or premature stage:

   We aborted our vacation when the car broke down.

4. to terminate (a missile flight, mission, etc.) before completion.
5. to put down or quell in the early stages:

   Troops aborted the uprising.

noun

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

abort

/ əˈbɔːt /

verb

1. to undergo or cause (a woman) to undergo the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable
2. tr to cause (a fetus) to be expelled from the womb before it is viable
3. intr to fail to come to completion; go wrong
4. tr to stop the development of; cause to be abandoned
5. intr to give birth to a dead or nonviable fetus
6. (of a space flight, military operation, etc) to fail or terminate prematurely
7. intr (of an organism or part of an organism) to fail to develop into the mature form

noun

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

Other Words From

• una·borted adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of abort¹

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin abortus “miscarried,” past participle of aborīrī “to disappear, miscarry,” equivalent to ab- ab- + orīrī “to rise, come into being”; orient ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of abort¹

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

Example Sentences

It came two months after their aborted mutiny in Russia.

From BBC

Instead of allowing doctors to abort pregnancies that are failing, they want to force them to induce labor instead.

From Salon

And when a malfunctioning synthesizer forced him to abort a performance of his new song Small Changes, the former perfectionist just laughed it off.

From BBC

An Alaska Airlines plane headed to Everett, Wash., aborted its takeoff from the Los Angeles International Airport Tuesday morning after it struck a bird, the airline said.

From Los Angeles Times

Along with Hamilton, Leclerc made an error on his first lap and had to abort and then had a weak first sector of his final lap.

From BBC

Related Words

• break off
• cut off
• halt
• interrupt
• nullify
• scrap
• scrub
• terminate