abolisha‧bol‧ish /əˈbɒlɪʃ $ əˈbɑː-/ ●●○ verb [transitive] 
Slavery was abolished in the US in the 19th century.
WORD ORIGINabolish
Origin:
1400-1500 Old French abolir, from Latin abolere, probably from abolescere ‘to disappear’VERB TABLE
abolish
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | abolish |
| he, she, it | abolishes | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | abolished |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have abolished |
| he, she, it | has abolished | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had abolished |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will abolish |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have abolished |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am abolishing |
| he, she, it | is abolishing | |
| you, we, they | are abolishing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was abolishing |
| you, we, they | were abolishing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been abolishing |
| he, she, it | has been abolishing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been abolishing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be abolishing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been abolishing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- He served over 27 years in prison for fighting to abolish white-only rule.
- The unpopular tax was finally abolished some ten years ago.
- Welfare programs cannot be abolished that quickly.
- In 1958 these were abolished and replaced by fourteen administrative districts.
- In 2001, the program would be abolished.
- No wonder they are being abolished.
- There, the first step was to abolish the agency, with the expectation that competitive markets would then develop.
- Thus, for example, customs duties, discriminatory internal taxation and quotas have been abolished.
Longman Language Activatorto get rid of something that is causing problems
to remove or deal with something that is causing you trouble, such as an illness or a problem: · I can't seem to get rid of this cold.· We've cleaned the carpet twice, but still can't get rid of the smell.· Weedaway is a safe and natural way to get rid of weeds coming up in the garden.
to officially end a law, legal right, or system, especially one that has existed for a long time: · The unpopular tax was finally abolished some ten years ago.· He served over 27 years in prison for fighting to abolish white-only rule.
to end a system, law etc, or to decide not to use a plan that you were intending to use: · Plans to build a new airport have been scrapped because of lack of funding.· The president's proposal to scrap the program has angered many members of Congress.
to get rid of something because you do not need it: · Investors ditched stocks that were performing badly.· Brumfeld apparently ditched the car near Texarkana and fled into the woods.
to get rid of something so that it does not exist any more: · San José State University is doing away with its business school and department of journalism.· All countries in the region should commit themselves to doing away with weapons of mass destruction.
to completely get rid of something such as a disease, a social problem, or something that causes these things: · The disease has been eradicated from the Western world through the use of vaccines.· Their aim is to eradicate child poverty in the country within 10 years.
to completely get rid of something that is unnecessary or unwanted: · Traffic police intend to eliminate congestion caused by illegally parked vehicles.· Advances in medical science have eliminated the need for many patients to spend long periods of time in hospital.
to completely and thoroughly get rid of something that is causing you problems, especially by trying to make sure the causes of it are found and stopped: root out something: · The new president has promised to root out high level corruption.root something out: · Wherever we find waste and incompetence we will root it out.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES attempts to abolish slavery (=officially end it)COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB
to officially end a law, system etc, especially one that has existed for a long time: attempts to abolish slavery (=officially end it)· Also, the 20 percent. community charge payment should have been abolished completely this year.
NOUN· The first Act to abolish Chantries, in 1545, had lapsed before it could take effect.· The act did not abolish DISCs but limited their tax benefits and imposed an interest charge to tax-deferred earnings.· An Act of Parliament abolished the very surname and ordained that the property outside Perth should henceforth be called Huntingtower.· Amendments to the Act have now abolished mandatory retirement altogether for most categories of workers.· The Energy Act abolished the public sector's monopoly and allowed private companies to generate electricity as a main business.
· The survey found that 65 percent of the delegates favored abolishing affirmative action.
· Ministers are seeking a compromise that would reassure rebel peers who rejected a bill abolishing the clause last week.· The bill would abolish the distinction between domestic and international banning orders.· The Bill to abolish the Scheme was meanwhile being rushed through Parliament, and a fresh ballot was needed for the strike.
· Another major challenge could come next year should voters approve a statewide ballot initiative aimed at abolishing mobile-home rent control.
· District councils came into being as a result of the 1974 legislation which, interalia, abolished rural district councils.· The law abolished the Council of Ministers and replaced it with a 16-member Cabinet, headed by Byambasuren.· Then Margaret Thatcher spoiled their fun by abolishing the council five years ago.
· Shall we soon abolish death and refer to some one dead as having a life problem?· Laurent Fabius, the Socialist president of the parliament, urged Mr Jiang to abolish the death penalty.· In these circumstances facile and fallacious deductions about the consequences of having abolished the death penalty were bound to be rife.· In 1969, Britain abolished the death penalty for murder.
· One of its main decisions was to abolish the school's head boy and girl system.
· The only department which explicitly escapes unscathed is the one which Conservatives would most like to abolish: the Department of Energy.· He proposes abolishing the Education Department.· He is the self-proclaimed outsider who knows Washington; the former secretary of education who proposes to abolish the department.· Can you abolish the Department of Agriculture?
· The higher education White Paper proposed abolishing the distinction between universities, polytechnics and other higher education establishments.· The plan would introduce a single class of bearer shares, abolishing the distinction between registered and bearer shares.· Names and addresses Two white papers on further and higher education included a proposal to abolish the distinction between universities and polytechnics.· The bill would abolish the distinction between domestic and international banning orders.
· Will the Conservative promise to abolish education bring them a landslide victory?· He proposes abolishing the Education Department.
· Fifteen years ago a Labour government in New Zealand abolished subsidies almost overnight.· The parishes, for local government purposes, were abolished in 1929.· Why will not the Government abolish the 20 percent. rule?· Why do not the Government abolish the whole damn lot and give the people a free run for Christmas?· Then, in 1986 the Thatcher government abolished the metropolitan counties.· However, the Government nearly abolished it.
· But until the poor Law was abolished finally in 1948, the principle of financial support between-kin applied more broadly.· Despite the Constabulary's evil reputation, it has taken three years to get a law though Congress that abolished the organisation.· The law abolished the Council of Ministers and replaced it with a 16-member Cabinet, headed by Byambasuren.
· Laurent Fabius, the Socialist president of the parliament, urged Mr Jiang to abolish the death penalty.· In these circumstances facile and fallacious deductions about the consequences of having abolished the death penalty were bound to be rife.· In 1969, Britain abolished the death penalty for murder.
· The Government announced on 19 February that it was abandoning its plan to abolish legal aid in asylum cases.· Symington can wave good-bye to his plan to abolish income taxes.
· Presbyterian in religion, he was tolerant of other sects, and supported proposals to abolish tithes and remodel the universities.· Names and addresses Two white papers on further and higher education included a proposal to abolish the distinction between universities and polytechnics.
· On the question whether on merits it would be desirable to abolish capital punishment Ministers were divided.· In 1965, Britain abolished capital punishment.
· This abolished the interest rate cartel between banks and at the same time removed quantitative restrictions upon the level of bank lending.
· It is therefore not unlikely that before long Parliament may abolish the ultravires rule in company law altogether.
· Post-war lateral thinking solved the problem by abolishing the school, but the building survived that, too.· We will abolish museum charges for school parties.
· Within the civil service the Priestley pay bargaining system was abolished which linked civil service pay to rates in the private sector.
· With the elements as slaves, then for the first time in history slavery will be abolished.· In the North, slavery was abolished.· Even in 1832, slavery was abolished only within the old empire.
· The military first came to power in 1962 and abolished all state institutions in 1988.· He would even abolish all state and local tariffs except property and sin taxes.
· The 20 percent. contribution will be abolished, the rebate system will be improved and single retired people will be protected.· And he laid out welfare measures that he would put in place if Congress and the president abolish the current federal system.· Industrial relations became strained when the post office abolished a flexible shift system at the SWindon branch.· We must abolish the green currency system and the MCAs altogether.· Only immediate action was appropriate in abolishing a system which infringed divine law.
· We will abolish the poll tax Labour will abolish the poll tax immediately.· He abolished onerous taxes and puritanically banned prostitution, opium, gambling, even liquor.· We will abolish tax relief for private health insurance, whilst protecting the rights of existing policy-holders.· To conservatives, it means abolishing the capital gains tax, lowering the top rate on millionaires.· We will abolish the poll tax Labour will abolish the poll tax immediately.· Symington can wave good-bye to his plan to abolish income taxes.· The only trouble was that under questioning it became clear that one of his central aims was to abolish mortgage tax relief.
VERB· They propose to abolish the House of Lords.· He proposes abolishing the Education Department.· Just wait until we propose to abolish their pensions to save money.· He is the self-proclaimed outsider who knows Washington; the former secretary of education who proposes to abolish the department.· Arthur Dunkel, secretary-general, had proposed abolishing all quotas in favour of setting tariffs.
Slavery was abolished in the US in the 19th century.