abort

(əˈbɔːt

)

verb

1 to undergo or cause (a woman) to undergo the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable

2 (transitive) to cause (a fetus) to be expelled from the womb before it is viable

3 (intransitive) to fail to come to completion; go wrong

4 (transitive) to stop the development of; cause to be abandoned

5 (intransitive) to give birth to a dead or nonviable fetus

6 (of a space flight, military operation, etc) to fail or terminate prematurely

7 (intransitive) (of an organism or part of an organism) to fail to develop into the mature form

▷ noun

8 the premature termination or failure of (a space flight, military operation, etc)

[C16: from Latin abortāre, from the past participle of aborīrī to miscarry, from ab- wrongly, badly + orīrī to appear, arise, be born]

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Words