abortion

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: a=bor=tion

CIDE DICTIONARY

abortion, n. [L. abortio, fr. aboriri. See Abort.].

•  The act of giving premature birth; particularly, the expulsion of the human fetus prematurely, or before it is capable of sustaining life; miscarriage.  [1913 Webster]
•  The immature product of an untimely birth; a fetus which has been delivered prematurely due to spontaneous or voluntary abortion, and is dead.  [1913 Webster]
•  Arrest of development of any organ, so that it remains an imperfect formation or is absorbed.  [1913 Webster]
•  Any fruit or produce that does not come to maturity, or anything which in its progress, before it is matured or perfect; a complete failure; as, his attempt proved an abortion.  [1913 Webster]
•  the removal of a fetus from the womb prior to normal delivery in a manner such as to cause the death of the fetus; also called voluntary abortion, or when performed by a physician, therapeutic abortion.  [PJC]

  "In the 1913 Webster there was the following note appended to sense 1:
  It is sometimes used for the offense of procuring a premature delivery, but strictly the early delivery is the abortion, “causing or procuring abortion” is the full name of the offense. Abbott.
  [PJC]"  Abbott.  [PJC]
•  something considered to be a repulsive or monstrous variant of a normal object; a monstrosity.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

abortion, n.
1 the expulsion of a foetus (naturally or esp. by medical induction) from the womb before it is able to survive independently, esp. in the first 28 weeks of a human pregnancy.
2 a stunted or deformed creature or thing.
3 the failure of a project or an action.
4 Biol. the arrest of the development of an organ.

Etymology

L abortio (as ABORT)

ROGET THESAURUS

abortion

Nonpreparation

N nonpreparation, non-preparation, absence of preparation, want of preparation, inculture, inconcoction, improvidence, immaturity, crudity, rawness, abortion, disqualification, nature, state of nature, virgin soil, unweeded garden, neglect, rough copy, germ, raw material, improvisation, unprepared (prepare), without preparation, incomplete, rudimental, embryonic, abortive, immature, unripe, kachcha, raw, green, crude, coarse, rough cast, rough hewn, in the rough, unhewn, unformed, unfashioned, unwrought, unlabored, unblown, uncooked, unboiled, unconcocted, unpolished, unhatched, unfledged, unnurtured, unlicked, untaught, uneducated, uncultivated, untrained, untutored, undrilled, unexercised, deckle- edged, precocious, premature, undigested, indigested, unmellowed, unseasoned, unleavened, unrehearsed, unscripted, extemporaneous, improvised, spontaneous, ad lib, ad libitem, fallow, unsown, untilled, natural, in a state of nature, undressed, in dishabille, en deshabille, unqualified, disqualified, unfitted, ill-digested, unbegun, unready, unarranged, unorganized, unfurnished, unprovided, unequipped, untrimmed, out of gear, out of order, dismantled, shiftless, improvident, unthrifty, thriftless, thoughtless, unguarded, happy-go- lucky, caught napping, unpremeditated, extempore.

Failure

N failure, nonsuccess, nonfulfillment, dead failure, successlessness, abortion, miscarriage, brutum fulmen, labor in vain, no go, inefficacy, inefficaciousness, vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts, flash in the pan, lame and impotent conclusion, frustration, slip 'twixt cup and lip, blunder, fault, omission, miss, oversight, slip, trip, stumble, claudication, footfall, false step, wrong step, faux pas, titubation, b_evue, faute, lurch, botchery, scrape, mess, fiasco, breakdown, flunk, mishap, split, collapse, smash, blow, explosion, repulse, rebuff, defeat, rout, overthrow, discomfiture, beating, drubbing, quietus, nonsuit, subjugation, checkmate, stalemate, fool's mate, fall, downfall, ruin, perdition, wreck, deathblow, bankruptcy, losing game, affaire flamb_ee, victim, bankrupt, flunker, flunky, unsuccessful, successless, failing, tripping, at fault, unfortunate, abortive, addle, stillborn, fruitless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory, inefficient, insufficient, unavailing, of no effect, aground, grounded, swamped, stranded, cast away, wrecked, foundered, capsized, shipwrecked, nonsuited, foiled, defeated, struck down, borne down, broken down, downtrodden, overborne, overwhelmed, all up with, ploughed, plowed, plucked, lost, undone, ruined, broken, bankrupt, played out, done up, done for, dead beat, ruined root and branch, flambe, knocked on the head, destroyed, frustrated, crossed, unhinged, disconcerted dashed, thrown off one's balance, thrown on one's back, thrown on one's beam ends, unhorsed, in a sorry plight, hard hit, stultified, befooled, dished, hoist on one's own petard, victimized, sacrificed, wide of the mark, out of one's reckoning, left in the lurch, thrown away, unattained, uncompleted, unsuccessfully, to little or no purpose, in vain, re infecta, the bubble has burst, the jig is up, the game is up, all is lost, the devil to pay, parturiunt montes, dies infaustus, tout est perdu hors l'honneur.