abortion

noun

An induced abortion.

(medicine) The expulsion from the womb of a foetus or embryo before it is fully developed, with loss of the foetus.

(now uncommon in general use) A spontaneous abortion; a miscarriage.

(figuratively) Failure or abandonment of a project, promise, goal etc.

(figuratively) A misshapen person or thing; a monstrosity.

(biology) Arrest of development of any organ, so that it remains an imperfect formation or is absorbed.

The cessation of an illness or disease at a very early stage.

(now rare) An aborted foetus; an abortus.

Roots

abab- · Latin · away from orior-ort · Latin · rise, arise

Synonyms & related words for abortion

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of abortion. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to abortion

Explore words related to abortion — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include miscarriage, aborticide, proabortion, antiabortion, antiabortionist, abortionist, feticide, abortifacient. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Where does abortion come from?

The word abortion breaks down into 2 roots of Latin origin: ab-, from Latin ab (“away from”); and -ort, from Latin orior (“rise, arise”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.