abort

American  

[uh-bawrt] / əˈbɔrt /

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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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noun

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

Other Word Forms

• unaborted adjective

Etymology

Origin of abort

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. )

Example Sentences

Once, on a solo trip to the North Pole, he snapped a piece of his ski binding and was forced to abort the entire expedition, writing off a trip that cost more than $200,000.

From The Wall Street Journal

He aborted the flight, offloaded the passengers and stayed on board to help the mechanics.

From The Wall Street Journal

A video from an aborted attempt to climb Mt.

From Los Angeles Times

It aborted the effort, called Operation Causeway, because the scale and complexity demanded many hundreds of thousands of troops.

From The Wall Street Journal

Instead, the veteran kicker said, he noticed a problem with the hold and made the split-second decision to abort.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

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