abortion

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The deliberate ending of a pregnancy before the baby can survive on its own.

   The new law placed strict limits on when an abortion could be performed.

2. 2
   noun

   A natural loss of a pregnancy before the baby is developed; a miscarriage.

   After two early abortions, the couple finally welcomed a healthy child.

3. 3
   noun

   The failure or collapse of a plan, project, or goal.

   The mission was an abortion from the very start, doomed by poor planning.

From Latin abortiōnem (“miscarriage, abortion”), from aborior (“to miscarry”). Equivalent to abort + -ion. Displaced native Old English ǣwyrp (literally “throwing out, rejection”).

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