Abortive
[ə'bɔːtɪv] or [ə'bɔrtɪv]
Definition
(adj.) failing to accomplish an intended result; 'an abortive revolt'; 'a stillborn plot to assassinate the President' .
Checked by Delores--From WordNet
Definition
(v.) Produced by abortion; born prematurely; as, an abortive child.
(v.) Made from the skin of a still-born animal; as, abortive vellum.
(v.) Rendering fruitless or ineffectual.
(v.) Coming to naught; failing in its effect; miscarrying; fruitless; unsuccessful; as, an abortive attempt.
(v.) Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile; as, an abortive organ, stamen, ovule, etc.
(v.) Causing abortion; as, abortive medicines.
(v.) Cutting short; as, abortive treatment of typhoid fever.
(n.) That which is born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion.
(n.) A fruitless effort or issue.
(n.) A medicine to which is attributed the property of causing abortion.
Typist: Phil
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Miscarrying, failing, untimely, immature.[2]. Unavailing, vain, fruitless, useless, bootless, ineffectual, ineffective, inoperative, unsuccessful, profitless, futile, unprofitable, idle, nugatory, in vain, of no account.
Checked by Lemuel
Examples
- He lived and died a poor man; he was perhaps the most honest of demagogues; but this did not save him from an abortive prosecution for peculation. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- It would be interesting to trace out the forms it has taken, the abortive cults it has tried and abandoned. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The cherub faintly muttered something to the abortive effect of 'Oh, indeed, my dear! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The trans-Mississippi movement proved abortive. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- He was employed as artillery commander in an abortive raid upon Corsica, and then went to Paris (1795) rather down at heel. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- All necessary steps were at once taken to render such an attempt abortive. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- One of these virtuosi seemed to think that I might be an embryo, or abortive birth. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Only at the third did our visit prove abortive. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Kashkin had been in the north at Irun, at San Sebastian and in the abortive fighting toward Vitoria. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
Checked by Lemuel