abort /ə-börtˈ/ intransitive verb- To miscarry in birth
- (of a baby) to be lost in this way
- To fail before getting fully under way or reaching a viable stage of development
- To come to nothing
transitive verb- To cause to abort
- To check or call off (an attack, mission, etc) at an early stage
- To stop (eg the flight of a rocket) in emergency before completion of mission
- To abandon (a computer activity), usu because an error has been made or because there has been a program or system failure
noun An instance of abortion (esp of a rocket launch) ORIGIN: L aborīrī, abortus, from ab-1 (reversing the meaning), and orīrī to rise aborteeˈ noun A woman who has an abortion aborticide /ə-börtˈi-sīd/ noun - The killing of a fetus in the womb
- A drug or agent causing this, an abortifacient
abortifaˈcient /-i-fāˈshənt or -shi-ənt/ adjective Causing abortion noun A drug or other means of causing abortion aborˈtion noun - The premature expulsion of an embryo or a fetus, either occurring naturally (spontaneous abortion) or by artificial means (induced abortion), esp in the first three months of pregnancy
- The procuring of an induced abortion
- Arrest of development
- The result of such arrest
- Anything that fails in the course of coming into being
- A misshapen or ill-contrived thing (offensive sl)
aborˈtional adjective - Relating to abortion
- Dreadful or terrible (informal)
aborˈtionist noun - A person who performs abortions, esp illegally
- A person who is in favour of abortion on demand
aborˈtive adjective - Born before due time
- Unsuccessful
- Brought out or produced in an imperfect condition
- Abortifacient
- Checked in development
abortˈively adverb abortˈiveness noun abortuary /ə-börtˈū-ə-ri/ noun (from abortion and mortuary) an anti-abortion term for an abortion clinic abortion pill noun A drug taken orally that brings about abortion contagious abortion Contagious bacterial infections of cattle and of horses, causing abortion induce /in-dūsˈ/ transitive verb- To draw on
- To prevail on, make, cause, encourage (to do something)
- To bring into being
- To initiate or speed up (labour of childbirth) artificially, as by administering drugs (also intransitive verb) (medicine)
- To cause, as an electric state, by mere proximity (physics)
- To infer inductively (logic)
- To bring in (obsolete)
intransitive verb To reason or draw inferences inductively —See also induct and induction below ORIGIN: L indūcere, inductum, from in into, and dūcere to lead induceˈment noun - The act of inducing or that which induces
- A means of persuasion
- Incentive, motive
- A statement of facts introducing other important facts (law)
inducˈer noun - Someone who, or that which, induces
- An agent which increases the transcription of specific genes (biology)
induˈcible adjective induced abortion see abortion under abort induced current noun (elec) A current set in action by the influence of the surrounding magnetic field, or by the variation of an adjacent current induced radioactivity noun Radioactivity induced in non-radioactive elements by neutrons in a nuclear reactor, or protons or deuterons in a cyclotron or linear accelerator inducible enzyme noun (botany) An enzyme produced only in response to an inducing agent, often its substrate |