Meanings
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1
noun
historical: a person who campaigned to end slavery, especially in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Atlantic world
The abolitionist published speeches demanding the immediate end of slavery.
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2
noun
a person who advocates ending a particular institution, law, or practice
The prison abolitionist argued for replacing incarceration with community-based systems.
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3
adj
supporting or relating to the abolition of an institution or practice
The newspaper became an influential abolitionist voice.
Thesaurus
Etymology
Formed from abolition + -ist and first recorded in the late eighteenth century. It became especially associated with movements to abolish the slave trade and slavery, then broadened to advocates seeking the complete removal of other institutions or practices.