as in unsuccessful
producing no results
an abortive attempt to recover the sunken pirate ship
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Recent Examples of abortive
Our main girl, Diva, is a diva down, forced into abortive encounters with the A.I. that stands, literally, between the goods and services supportive of her everyday life.
—
Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2025
Garbowit recalls that there were only around sixteen members of Congress lined up behind Thanedor’s abortive resolution—so the fact that Green’s follow-up motion garnered seventy-nine supporters in the caucus is a sign of progress.
—Chris Lehmann, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Brat Summer, last year’s abortive attempt to turn the screechy Charli XCX album of that name into a culture-spanning event, has given way to a season without name or form.
—Armin Rosen, The Washington Examiner, 25 July 2025
Netanyahu could also try to replace Halevi with a more pliant chief of the general staff, but doing so would be legally and politically fraught and would likely cause even more public outrage than his abortive dismissal of Gallant.
—Risa Brooks, Foreign Affairs, 9 May 2023
See All Example Sentences for abortive
Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 23 Aug. 2025
Garbowit recalls that there were only around sixteen members of Congress lined up behind Thanedor’s abortive resolution—so the fact that Green’s follow-up motion garnered seventy-nine supporters in the caucus is a sign of progress.
—Chris Lehmann, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
Brat Summer, last year’s abortive attempt to turn the screechy Charli XCX album of that name into a culture-spanning event, has given way to a season without name or form.
—Armin Rosen, The Washington Examiner, 25 July 2025
Netanyahu could also try to replace Halevi with a more pliant chief of the general staff, but doing so would be legally and politically fraught and would likely cause even more public outrage than his abortive dismissal of Gallant.
—Risa Brooks, Foreign Affairs, 9 May 2023
See All Example Sentences for abortive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abortive
Adjective
-
His work there included an unsuccessful effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, which drew congressional scrutiny.—
Dan Sullivan,
Miami Herald,
19 Feb. 2026
-
Attempts to reach Coplan and Jones individually were unsuccessful.—
Dan Bernstein,
Sportico.com,
19 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
This defeatist thinking is misguided and assumes action will be futile.—
Jim Costa,
Mercury News,
17 Feb. 2026
-
All throughout the film, there are images of terrible things being done to other creatures, as if to express the humans’ futile attempts to tamp down their natural urges.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
16 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Abortive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abortive. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.
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