aborta‧bort /əˈbɔːt $ -ɔːrt/ verb 
Word Origin Examples
The rescue mission had to be aborted.2[transitive] to deliberately end a pregnancy when the baby is still too young to live3[intransitive] if a pregnant woman or animal aborts, the baby is born too early and is dead when it is born SYN miscarry: The disease causes pregnant animals to abort.
Word OriginWORD ORIGINabort
Verb TableOrigin:
1500-1600 Latin abortare, from abortus, past participle of aboriri ‘to give birth to a dead baby’, from ab- ‘away’ + oriri ‘to rise, be born’VERB TABLE
abort
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | abort |
| he, she, it | aborts | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | aborted |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have aborted |
| he, she, it | has aborted | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had aborted |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will abort |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have aborted |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am aborting |
| he, she, it | is aborting | |
| you, we, they | are aborting | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was aborting |
| you, we, they | were aborting | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been aborting |
| he, she, it | has been aborting | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been aborting |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be aborting |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been aborting |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- The law allows women to abort an early-stage pregnancy.
- The mission was aborted after news came of the capture of the city.
- The plane had already started its descent when the pilot received orders to abort his landing.
- In addition, oxygen inhalations are given to abort the acute attacks.
- Pietr only found out by accident, when she applied to have the child aborted.
- The disease kills piglets and causes sows to abort.
- The plane aborted the takeoff and crashed into the water.
- When we fail to justly punish the criminal, the community sees justice aborted.
- Would I abort if my child was likely to have some kind of deformity?
- Yet the mob somehow aborts the landing and pulls the plane up sensibly.
Longman Language Activatorto make something stop happening or continuing► stop
1[transitive] to stop an activity because it would be difficult or dangerous to continue it: to make someone stop doing something, or make something stop happening: · The referee stopped the fight when one of the boxers was badly injured.· It is now time to stop the war and begin negotiations for peace.· Officials are planning to take court action to stop publication of the book.stop somebody doing something: · I gave my little brother some chocolate to stop him crying.
► put an end to to stop something, especially so that it never starts again: · An injury like this could put an end to her dancing career.· The outbreak of war put an end to their romance.
► bring to an end to finally and permanently end something that has continued for a long time: bring something to an end: · A treaty was signed which finally brought the conflict to an end.bring to an end something: · There are calls for the Prime Minister to bring to an end the uncertainty about the election date.
► halt to make something stop changing, developing, or progressing: · The government is determined to halt the trade in illegal animal furs.· All his efforts had failed to halt the increase in street crime.
► call off to decide that a planned action or activity should be stopped after it has already started: · The union decided to call off the strike when they were offered a 10% pay rise.· The meeting was called off at the last minute.· The hunt for the missing boy had to be called off because of severe weather conditions.
► cut short to stop an activity earlier than was planned, especially because of something unexpected such as illness or bad news: · She was forced to cut short her holiday and return to the UK.· His education was cut short when his father died of a sudden illness.
► abort to stop an action that has been started, because it would be too dangerous to continue: · The mission was aborted after news came of the capture of the city.· The plane had already started its descent when the pilot received orders to abort his landing.
► suspend to officially order that something should be stopped, when you intend to let it start again at a later time: · We have decided to suspend all production at the factory until safety checks can be carried out.· All pay increases are to be suspended until further notice.· The trial was suspended after threats were made against witnesses.
► pull the plug on informal to stop giving money to a plan or planned business activity so that it cannot continue: · The city council has pulled the plug on the new housing development.· Over 1000 workers lost their jobs when the company pulled the plug on plans to open ten new stores.
► freeze to keep prices or wages at the same level and not increase them: · The company has announced that it intends to freeze all salaries for a year.· All government employees have had their salaries frozen at last year's levels.
The rescue mission had to be aborted.2[transitive] to deliberately end a pregnancy when the baby is still too young to live3[intransitive] if a pregnant woman or animal aborts, the baby is born too early and is dead when it is born SYN miscarry: The disease causes pregnant animals to abort.