abolition
Americannoun
-
the act of abolishing or the state of being abolished: the abolition of capital punishment;
the abolition of war;
the abolition of capital punishment;
the abolition of unfair taxes.
- Synonyms:
- repeal, revocation, invalidation, nullification, elimination, eradication, annihilation
- Antonyms:
- establishment
-
the legal prohibition of slavery, especially the institutional enslavement of Black people in the U.S.
noun
-
the act of abolishing or the state of being abolished; annulment
-
(often capital) (in British territories) the ending of the slave trade (1807) or the ending of slavery (1833): accomplished after a long campaign led by William Wilberforce
-
(often capital) (in the US) the emancipation of the slaves, accomplished by the Emancipation Proclamation issued in 1863 and ratified in 1865
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of abolition
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin abolitiōn- (stem of abolitiō ), equivalent to abolit(us) “effaced, destroyed,” past participle of abolēre “to destroy, efface” + -iōn- noun suffix; see abolish, -ion
Explanation
Abolition is the act of getting rid of something, like the abolition of slavery. One of the greatest moments in the history of the United States was the abolition of slavery: when we ended slavery as an institution. That's a dramatic and important case, but abolition can refer to getting rid of any system, practice, or institution. Sports leagues would love to achieve the abolition of performance-enhancing drugs. Everyone would probably like to see the abolition of rats from all cities. When there's an abolition, something is abolished — it's gone.
Vocabulary lists containing abolition
American History I
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The American Civil War
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Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
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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:
In April he said the "outright and immediate abolition of the leasehold system in England and Wales" would be "almost certainly impossible".
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
My hope for this country: Revolution, liberation, abolition, community care, mutual aid, public services that actually allow people to thrive instead of like constant competition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
For Kevin Farmer, executive secretary of the Codrington Trust in Barbados, the argument that the Church absolved itself by eventually supporting abolition is deeply flawed.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
But Mr. Popkin has shown how much the abolition debate mattered at every stage of the French Revolution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 27, 2026
The chief strength of the proslavery argument that emerged from the Deep South delegation in the congressional debate of March 16–17 was its relentless focus on the impractical dimensions of all plans for abolition.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
But the think tank argues abolitions also cost money and time in the short term, with services disrupted when powers are transferred.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025
Further abolitions and moratoriums since then mean that most countries no longer use the punishment, although several large nations including China, Iran and the United States maintain it.
From Reuters ● Oct. 9, 2021
Through most of the last century, “there was a strategic withdrawal from capital punishment as business-as-usual in European nations, long before abolitions started to spread.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 16, 2014
Born under the French Directory and the Presidency of Washington, Carlyle survived two French empires, two kingdoms, and two republics; elsewhere partitions, abolitions, revivals and deaths of States innumerable.
From Thomas Carlyle by Nichol, John
"We're sleepin' late, account of them midnight abolitions."
From Sundown Slim by Fischer, Anton Otto
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
