as in unsuccessful
producing no results
an abortive attempt to recover the sunken pirate ship
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Recent Examples of abortive
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
On the one hand, as Tevye is fond of saying, the story unfolds in a hardscrabble shtetl in the Ukrainian plains in the months leading up to the Russian Empire’s abortive 1905 revolution.
—David Lyman, The Enquirer, 25 July 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
Chris Lehmann, Harpers Magazine, 20 Aug. 2025
On the one hand, as Tevye is fond of saying, the story unfolds in a hardscrabble shtetl in the Ukrainian plains in the months leading up to the Russian Empire’s abortive 1905 revolution.
—David Lyman, The Enquirer, 25 July 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
-
Despite several attempts to identify the man, officials were unsuccessful.—
Saleen Martin,
USA Today,
15 Jan. 2026
-
Emilio’s father then drove around the area to find his son, but was unsuccessful, per the database.—
David Chiu,
PEOPLE,
14 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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Their effort to find a home in Overtown seemed futile until Miami-Dade County Commissioner Keon Hardemon, who grew up in Liberty City, conceived a brilliant idea.—
Dorothy Jenkins Fields,
Miami Herald,
9 Jan. 2026
-
But the rally felt less threatening than futile.—
Zach Fisch,
The Atlantic,
6 Jan. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Abortive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abortive. Accessed 16 Jan. 2026.
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