abortive
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /əˈbɔɹ.tɪv/
ipa: /əˈbɔː.tɪv/
Forms: form: more abortive
form: most abortive
Etymology: First attested in 1382, with the meaning "causing stillbirth or miscarriage". From Middle English abortif, from Old French abortif, from Latin abortīvus (“causing abortion”), from aborior (“miscarry, disappear”), from ab (“amiss”) + orior (“appear, be born, arise”).
Senses: examples: text: an abortive child
text: Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!
ref: 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: Produced by abortion; born prematurely and therefore unnatural.
examples: text: an abortive attempt
text: […] and with utter loss of being / Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf.
ref: 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, published 1799:
text: The king in vain excused his hasty retreats and abortive enterprises
ref: 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella:
text: He made a salutation, or, to speak nearer the truth, an ill-defined, abortive attempt at curtsy.
ref: 1851 April 9, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:
synonyms: miscarrying
fruitless
unsuccessful
useless
glosses: Coming to nothing; failing in its effect. .
examples: text: an abortive organ
text: an abortive stamen
text: an abortive ovule
topics: biology
natural-sciences
glosses: Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile.
examples: text: abortive medicines
ref: 1809, Bartholomew Parr, Medical Dictionary:
text: 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., […]
ref: 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:
topics: medicine
pharmacology
sciences
glosses: Causing abortion; abortifacient.
examples: text: abortive treatment of typhoid fever
text: 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.
ref: 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:
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Cutting short; acting to halt or slow the progress (of a disease).
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: Having a short and mild progression, without pronounced symptoms.
raw_tags: of a disease
examples: text: abortive vellum
glosses: Made from the skin of a still-born animal.
Derived terms: abortively
abortiveness
antiabortive
nonabortive
postabortive
subabortive
unabortive