abort

1 of 2

verb

aborted; aborting; aborts

intransitive verb

1
: to bring forth stillborn, nonviable, or premature offspring
2
: to become checked in development so as to degenerate or remain rudimentary
3
: to terminate a procedure prematurely
the pilot decided to abort due to mechanical difficulties

transitive verb

1
a
: to induce the abortion of or give birth to prematurely
b
: to terminate the pregnancy of before term
2
a
: to terminate prematurely : cancel
abort a project
abort a spaceflight
b
: to stop in the early stages
abort a disease
aborter noun

abort

2 of 2

noun

: the premature termination of a flight (as of an aircraft or spacecraft), a mission, or an action or procedure relating to a flight
a launch abort

Examples of abort in a Sentence

Verb They decided to abort the pregnancy. abort the launch of a rocket I suggest that you abort the project. The mission had to be aborted. When problems occurred during the launch, it was necessary to abort.
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
That number has swollen from cumulative losses of $467 million in December 2021, when the company first filed papers to go public before aborting that attempt. Khristopher J. Brooks, CBS News, 21 Mar. 2024 The robot would in all likelihood end up dropping the tote, stay standing, and abort the task. IEEE Spectrum, 29 Feb. 2024 Related article Japan’s H3 rocket launch aborted after booster engine glitch H3’s maiden launch ended in failure last March when its second stage failed to ignite and its controllers issued a destruct command just 15 minutes after lift-off. Junko Ogura, CNN, 17 Feb. 2024 Many oppose incarcerating women who abort pregnancies, but polls consistently show most Brazilians oppose the procedure’s legalization. Terrence McCoy, Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2024 The legislature did clarify in a follow-up law that doctors can abort in cases of two specific life-threatening pregnancy conditions. TIME, 3 Jan. 2024 To avert a crisis, the FedEx plane changed course, aborting the landing, the FAA said. Sam Burros, Peoplemag, 2 Jan. 2024 If there's something amiss, officials have the option to abort the sample return and wait two more years for OSIRIS-REx to again be in position to drop off its precious cargo at Earth. Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 22 Sep. 2023 The president’s personal appeals have yielded some results by, for example, helping persuade Israel to abort plans for a preemptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon in the days after Hamas’s initial attack. Shalom Lipner, Foreign Affairs, 29 Dec. 2023
Noun
This was the first flight of Blue Origin's 60-foot-tall (18-meter) New Shepard rocket since September 12, 2022, when an engine failure destroyed the booster and triggered an in-flight abort for the vehicle's pressurized capsule. Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 19 Dec. 2023 Another facet of the Artemis II delay relates to the launch abort system that’s designed to propel the Orion capsule away from the Space Launch System rocket in the event of an emergency. Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel, 9 Jan. 2024 Elsewhere in Asia, India took strides toward launching its own astronauts with a successful test of a launch abort system for the country's Gaganyaan spacecraft, which could fly people into low-Earth orbit in 2025. Stephen Clark, Ars Technica, 27 Oct. 2023 In either weather extreme, does focus on their own survival and will abort fawns. Scott Bestul, Field & Stream, 31 Aug. 2023 While Putin initially accused Wagner of treason, a deal saw Prigozhin abort the revolt. Yuliya Talmazan, NBC News, 14 July 2023 Simply put, the rocket has a lot of moving and stable parts including a propulsion system, launch abort system, cargo module, service module, guidance systems and crew capsule. Lee Roop | Lroop@al.com, al, 18 Aug. 2023 Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket suffered an unspecified booster failure just over a minute after launch on Monday, triggering its unoccupied capsule's emergency abort system. Harold Maass, The Week, 13 Sep. 2022 Forecasters are predicting an 80% chance of acceptable launch weather, but mission managers are monitoring sea conditions along the spacecraft's trajectory to orbit that could cause problems if the crew had to attempt an emergency splashdown after an abort. William Harwood, CBS News, 29 Oct. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'abort.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

in part borrowed from Latin abortus, past participle of aborīrī "to pass away, be lost, (of a fetus) miscarry, be aborted, (of a woman) miscarry," from ab- ab- + orīrī "to rise, come into existence, be born"; in part borrowed from Late Latin abortīre and abortīrī "(of a woman) to miscarry," derivatives of Latin aborīrī — more at orient entry 2

Noun

noun derivative of abort entry 1

First Known Use

Verb

1540, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun

1944, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of abort was in 1540

Dictionary Entries Near abort

Cite this Entry

“Abort.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abort. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

abort

verb
ə-ˈbȯrt
1
: to bring forth premature or stillborn offspring
2
: to become checked in development
3
: to put an end to before completion
abort a project

Medical Definition

abort

intransitive verb
: to bring forth premature or stillborn offspring
the patient aborted spontaneously
compare miscarry

transitive verb

1
a
: to induce the abortion of or give birth to prematurely
b
: to terminate the pregnancy of before term
2
: to stop in the early stages
abort a disease
aborter noun

Legal Definition

abort

transitive verb
: to induce the expulsion of (a human fetus)

More from Merriam-Webster on abort

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