abort
/əˈbɔɹt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.27 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission.
Example Sentences
- "We've had aborts on three of our last seven launches."
- "We've had three aborts over the last two days."
- "In Japonia 'tis a common thing to stifle their children if they be poor, or to make an abort, which Aristotle commends."
- "Women have aborted, men have committed suicide, and both men and women have been thrown into convulsions during the fearful agony of renal colic."
- "In the study group ll patients aborted spontaneously between the 17th and 20th gestational week and 8 patients aborted after the 21st week."
- ""Of course, you can't abort yourself...I mean you positively can't be allowed to. To begin with it's a crime.""
Etymology
From Middle English, from Latin abortus, perfect active participle of aborior (“miscarry”), formed from ab + orior (“to come into being”). Doublet of abortus.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /əˈbɔɹt/
- British English: /əˈbɔːt/