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abort

Syllabification: (a·bort)
Pronunciation: /əˈbôrt/
Translate abort | into French | into German | into Italian
Definition of abort

verb

[with object]
  • 1carry out or undergo the abortion of (a fetus).
  • [no object] (of a pregnant woman or female animal) have a miscarriage, with loss of the fetus.
  • [no object] Biology (of an embryonic organ or organism) remain undeveloped; fail to mature.
  • 2bring to a premature end because of a problem or fault:the pilot aborted his landing

noun

informal or technical
  • an act of aborting a flight, space mission, or other enterprise:there was an abort because of bad weather

Origin:

mid 16th century: from Latin aboriri 'miscarry', from ab- 'away, from' + oriri 'be born'

abort in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of abort in the British & World English dictionary

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