abortive

English

Etymology

First attested in 1382, with the meaning "causing stillbirth or miscarriage". From Middle English, from Old French abortif, from Latin abortīvus (“causing abortion”), from aborior (“miscarry, disappear”), from ab (“amiss”) + orior (“appear, be born, arise”).

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /əˈbɔɹ.tɪv/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈbɔː.tɪv/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

Adjective

abortive (comparative more abortive, superlative most abortive)

1. (obsolete) Produced by abortion; born prematurely and therefore unnatural.

   an abortive child

   • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!

2. Coming to nothing; failing in its effect. .

   Synonyms: miscarrying, fruitless, unsuccessful, useless

   an abortive attempt

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, published 1799:

     […] and with utter loss of being / Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf.

   • 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella:

     The king in vain excused his hasty retreats and abortive enterprises

   • 1851 April 9, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields:

     He made a salutation, or, to speak nearer the truth, an ill-defined, abortive attempt at curtsy.

3. (biology) Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile.

   an abortive organ

   an abortive stamen

   an abortive ovule

4. (medicine, pharmacology, rare) Causing abortion; abortifacient.
   • 1809, Bartholomew Parr, Medical Dictionary:

     abortive medicines

   • 2018 May, Carla Sebastiania, Ludovica Curcioa, Marcella Ciulloa, Deborah Crucianib, Silvia Crottib, Cristina Pescab, Martina Torricellia, Martina Sebastianellia, Andrea Felicic, Massimo Biagetti, “A multi-screening Fast qPCR approach to the identification of abortive agents in ruminants”, in Journal of Microbiological Methods, volume 148, →DOI, page 12:

     Each country may have a different prevalence of infectious abortive agents. The most common agents of abortion in cattle are Brucella spp., Campylobacter spp., Chlamydiaceae, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira spp., […]

5. (medicine) Cutting short; acting to halt or slow the progress (of a disease).

   abortive treatment of typhoid fever

   • 2016 December, David C. Sheridan, Garth D. Meckler, “Inpatient Pediatric Migraine Treatment: Does Choice of Abortive Therapy Affect Length of Stay?”, in The Journal of Pediatrics, volume 179, →DOI, page 211:

     Even with prophylaxis, children often experience episodic breakthrough headaches that require abortive treatment. […] Abortive therapies in the ED include dopamine antagonists and anti-inflammatory agents.

6. (medicine, of a disease) Having a short and mild progression, without pronounced symptoms.
7. Made from the skin of a still-born animal.

   abortive vellum

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

abortive (plural abortives)

1. (obsolete) Someone or something born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion.
2. (obsolete) A fruitless effort.
3. (obsolete) A medicine that causes abortion, an abortifacient.
4. (obsolete) A medicine or treatment acting to halt or slow the progress of a disease.
   • 1897 August 7, E. Viko, “On the Treatment of Typhoid Fever”, in The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 29, number 6, Chicago, Ill., →DOI, page 274:

     Naphthalin was praised by Rosbach as an abortive in typhoid fever; Kraemer in 1886, Wilcox in 1887, Sehwald in 1889 and Wolff of Philadelphia in 1891 confirmed Rosbach's observations.

Translations

Verb

abortive (third-person singular simple present abortives, present participle abortiving, simple past and past participle abortived)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To cause an abortion; to render without fruit.

References

• “abortive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.bɔʁ.tiv/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophone: abortives

Adjective

abortive

1. feminine singular of abortif

German

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

abortive

1. inflection of abortiv:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.borˈti.ve/
• Rhymes: -ive
• Hyphenation: a‧bor‧tì‧ve

Adjective

abortive

1. feminine plural of abortivo

Anagrams

• breviato

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /a.borˈtiː.u̯e/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /a.borˈti.ve/,

Adjective

abortīve

1. vocative masculine singular of abortīvus

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /abɔˈʈiːʋə/, /abɔʁˈtiːʋə/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːʋə
• Hyphenation: ab‧or‧ti‧ve
• Homophone: abortivet

Adjective

abortive

1. definite singular of abortiv
2. plural of abortiv