abort

American  

[uh-bawrt] / əˈbɔrt /

verb (used without object)

1. to bring forth a fetus from the uterus before the fetus is viable; miscarry.

2. to develop incompletely; remain in a rudimentary or undeveloped state.

3. to fail, cease, or stop at an early or premature stage.

4. Military. to fail to accomplish a purpose or mission for any reason other than enemy action.

5. Rocketry. (of a missile) to stop before the scheduled flight is completed.

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verb (used with object)

1. to cause to bring forth (a fetus) from the uterus before the fetus is viable.

2. to cause (a pregnant female) to be delivered of a nonviable fetus.

3. to cause to cease or end at an early or premature stage.

   We aborted our vacation when the car broke down.

4. to terminate (a missile flight, mission, etc.) before completion.

5. to put down or quell in the early stages.

   Troops aborted the uprising.

noun

1. a missile, rocket, etc., that has aborted.

abort British  

/ əˈbɔːt /

verb

1. to undergo or cause (a woman) to undergo the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable

2. (tr) to cause (a fetus) to be expelled from the womb before it is viable

3. (intr) to fail to come to completion; go wrong

4. (tr) to stop the development of; cause to be abandoned

5. (intr) to give birth to a dead or nonviable fetus

6. (of a space flight, military operation, etc) to fail or terminate prematurely

7. (intr) (of an organism or part of an organism) to fail to develop into the mature form

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noun

1. the premature termination or failure of (a space flight, military operation, etc)

Other Word Forms

• unaborted adjective

Etymology

Origin of abort

First recorded in 1570–80; from Latin abortus “miscarried,” past participle of aborīrī “to disappear, miscarry,” equivalent to ab- ab- + orīrī “to rise, come into being”; orient ( def. )

Explanation

To abort something is to end it. When something is aborted, it's finished. In a movie, you may have seen people on some kind of mission yelling "Abort! Abort!" That means "Stop!" When you abort a plan or activity, you're ending it, usually prematurely. If you abort a dinner, you cancel it in the middle. If the police abort a raid, they stop it after it has already begun. A writer could abort a novel after writing a chapter or two. You can't abort something that hasn't been started: that's more like canceling or postponing.

Example Sentences

When Gavalas reported seeing a car just like his own, Gemini told him it was part of a government surveillance operation and told him to abort the mission.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 12, 2026

In the second, crews headed to the Florida space coast, where they placed the abort system and test capsule on a modified missile.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

Once, on a solo trip to the North Pole, he snapped a piece of his ski binding and was forced to abort the entire expedition, writing off a trip that cost more than $200,000.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 27, 2025

"I just had a bit of understeer and was going to go off so I had to abort," said Norris.

From Barron's • Nov. 29, 2025

He has finally upgraded from a hint to a crew obligation: he wants to abort the landing.

From "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell

Related Words

• break off
• cut off
• halt
• interrupt
• nullify
• scrap
• scrub
• terminate