abort

C2+ Topic:Actions & Processes

US /əˈbɔrt/ UK /əˈbɔːt/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

verb
to bring to a premature end before completion

Mission control had to abort the launch when a sensor failed.

Verb forms

Verb forms are not available for this word yet.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to bring to a premature end... terminate cancel halt stop scrap discontinue abandon

Opposites

continue complete proceed finish resume

Word family

Derived forms abortion abortiveabortedaborter

Related forms abortion abortive

Etymology

From Latin abortāre, from abortus, past participle of aborīrī ('to miscarry, disappear'), from ab- ('away, amiss') + orīrī ('to arise, be born').

aborīrī Latin orīrī Latin *h₃er- Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

External links

# abort

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** /əˈbɔrt/
**IPA (UK):** /əˈbɔːt/

## Meanings
1. to bring to a premature end before completion

## Examples
- Mission control had to abort the launch when a sensor failed.

## Synonyms
- terminate
- cancel
- halt
- stop
- scrap
- discontinue
- abandon

## Antonyms
- continue
- complete
- proceed
- finish
- resume

## Derived Forms
- abortion
- abortive
- aborted
- aborter

## Related Forms
- abortion
- abortive

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: aborīrī
- Root: orīrī
- Root: *h₃er-

## Etymology
From Latin abortāre, from abortus, past participle of aborīrī ('to miscarry, disappear'), from ab- ('away, amiss') + orīrī ('to arise, be born').

## AI Etymology
abort comes from Latin abortāre, from abortus, past participle of aborīrī ('to miscarry, disappear'), from ab- ('away, amiss') + orīrī ('to arise, be born'). Morphologically, the word is transparent as a compound: its parts remain visible in the modern spelling, while the older history of those parts supplies the deeper ancestry. In modern use, the verb sense is "to bring to a premature end before completion", which keeps the etymology connected to the word's present dictionary value rather than treating it as a merely historical label. The wider word family includes related English forms such as abortion, abortive and derivatives such as abortion, abortive, aborted, aborter, showing how the same base continues to support neighboring English vocabulary. The principal historical forms in the chain include Latin aborīrī, Latin orīrī, Proto-Indo-European *h₃er-, which anchor the explanation in named linguistic material.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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