Abortive

Definition: Abortive

Abortive

Adjective

1. Failing to accomplish an intended result; "an abortive revolt"; "a stillborn plot to assassinate the President".

Date "abortive" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)

Synonyms: Abortive

Synonyms: stillborn (adj), unsuccessful (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Failure	Noun: failure; nonsuccess, nonfulfillment; dead failure, successlessness; abortion, miscarriage; brutum fulmen; labor in vain; (inutility); no go; inefficacy; inefficaciousness; Adjective: vain attempt, ineffectual attempt, abortive attempt, abortive efforts; flash in the pan, "lame and impotent conclusion"; frustration; slip 'twixt cup and lip; (disappointment).
	Abortive, addle, stillborn; fruitless, bootless; ineffectual, ineffective, inconsequential, trifling, nugatory; inefficient; (impotent); insufficient; unavailing; (useless); of no effect.
Inutility	Adjective: useless, inutile, inefficacious, futile, unavailing, bootless; inoperative; inadequate; (insufficient); inservient, unsubservient; inept, inefficient; (impotent); of no avail; (use); ineffectual; (failure); incompetent; (unskillful); " stale, flat and unprofitable"; superfluous; (redundant); dispensable; thrown away; (wasted); abortive; (immature).
Nonpreparation	Adjective: unprepared; without preparation; incomplete; rudimental, embryonic, abortive; immature, unripe, kachcha, raw, green, crude; coarse; rough cast, rough hewn; in the rough; unhewn, unformed, unfashioned, unwrought, unlabored, unblown, uncooked, unboiled, unconcocted, unpolished.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Abortive

English words defined with "abortive": Aborsive, Aborted, Abortional, Abortiveness ♦ Horn pox ♦ Sooterkin, Staminodium, stillborn ♦ To go to naught, To go up ♦ unsuccessful. (references)

Specialty definitions using "abortive": Abortive Flowers ♦ Kvikkalkul. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	Bernard Shaw: The Diaries, 1885-1897: With Early Autobiographical Notebooks and Diaries, and an Abortive 1917 Diary (reference) The Abortive Revolution: China Under Nationalist Rule, 1927-1937 (reference) The Austrian Empire, Abortive Federation? (Problems in European Civilization) (reference) The liturgy of comprehension, 1689; an abortive attempt to revise the Book of common prayer (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Gulliver's Travels	Swift, Jonathan	One of these virtuosi seemed to think that I might be an embryo, or abortive birth.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Sweden	Foreign policy concerns in the 1930s centered on Soviet and German expansionism which stimulated abortive efforts at Nordic defense cooperation. (references)
	Libya	An abortive coup attempt in May 1984, apparently mounted by Libyan exiles with internal support, led to a short-lived reign of terror in which thousands were imprisoned and interrogated. (references)
	Azerbaijan	At the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, an independent republic was proclaimed in 1918 following an abortive attempt to establish a Transcaucasian Republic with Armenia and Georgia. (references)
Human Rights	Brunei	Muhamad Yasin Abdul Rahman, age 76, who played a pivotal role in the abortive 1962 rebellion, was detained without trial for 12 years from 1962 to 1973, when he escaped from prison to live in exile in Malaysia. (references)
	Indonesia	Government security officials monitor the movements and activities of former members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and its front organizations, especially persons whom the Government believes were involved in the abortive 1965 coup. (references)
	Gambia	In 1997 the Court of Appeal, the country's highest court at the time, overturned the treason convictions and death sentences of four men accused of leading an abortive coup in 1996. The Government first appealed this decision to the Privy Council in London, but then appealed it to the Supreme Court once that institution was established. (references)
Political Economy	Maldives	In 1953, there was a brief, abortive attempt at a republican form of government, after which the sultanate was reimposed. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Abortive" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 98.41% of the time. "Abortive" is used about 252 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	98.41%	248	18,908
Noun (proper)	1.59%	4	175,879
Total	100.00%	252	N/A

Expressions using "abortive": abortive birth ♦ abortive coup ♦ abortive coup d'etat ♦ an abortive organ. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language		Translations for "abortive"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		vrugteloos (fruitless, futile, useless, vain). (various references)

Albanian		shtijak (dissimulation), i pasuksesshëm (ineffective, unfortunate, unsuccessful), i pafrytshëm (fruitless, ineffective), i dështuar (failed, frustrate, frustrated, washed up). (various references)

Arabic		‏ناقص النمو مخفق. (various references)

Bulgarian		неуспял (failed, unsuccessful), неуспешен (unsuccessful), недоразвит (aborted, dwarf, embryonic, immature, inchoate, rudimental, rudimentary, underdeveloped, undersized, unformed), закърнял (aborted, atrophied, obsolete, stunted, vestigial), безплоден (arid, fruitless, infertile, still-born, trashy, unfruitful, vain), преждевременен (premature, untimely). (various references)

Chinese		失败 (Defeat, defeatist, Fail, Failed, Failing, failure, Miscarried, miscarry, Miscarrying). (various references)

Czech		nezdařený (failed). (various references)

Danish		abortivum (abortifacient), pellentium (abortifacient). (various references)

Dutch		mislukt. (various references)

Esperanto		vana (futile, useless, vain), senutila (useless), malsukcesa, fiaska. (various references)

Farsi		مسقط, عقیم (Barren, Sterile), رشدنکرده , بی نتیجه (Inconclusive, Indeterminate, Ineffective, Ineffectual), بی ثمر (Barren, Gaunt, Unfruitful, Unprofitable). (various references)

Finnish		turha (fruitless, futile, needless, of no use, unnecessary, useless, vain). (various references)

French		abortif (abortifacient), vain. (various references)

Frisian		idel (fruitless, futile, useless, vain). (various references)

German		vorzeitig (abortively, early, premature, prematurely, untimely), unvollkommen (imperfect, imperfectly, incomplete, incompletely), abtreibend (abortional, procuring abortion). (various references)

Greek		εκτρωματικόσ (abortional), εκτρωτικός (abortifacient), άκαρποσ (fruitless, ineffectual, unfruitful), άνευ αποτελέσματοσ (ineffectually), ανεπιτυχήσ (infelicitous, unsuccessful), αμβλωτικός (abortifacient), αμβλωτικό φάρμακο, αποτυχών (washed up), θνησιγενήσ. (various references)

Hebrew		כושל (faint, weak). (various references)

Hungarian		sikertelen (failed, still-born, unavailable, unavailing, unsuccessful), meddő (barren, dead, dry, effete, refuse, spoil, waste). (various references)

Indonesian		gagal (fail, misfire, unsuccessful, vain). (various references)

Italian		abortivo (abortifacient, abortional). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		不成功 (failure). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ふせい�"う (bungling, clumsy, failure, stainless steel). (various references)

Korean		� 산 (Legacies, legacy, Miscarrying). (various references)

Manx		louyragh, leahree, anappee (immature). (various references)

Norwegian		mislykket. (various references)

Pig Latin		abortiveay.(various references)

Polish		daremny (fruitless, futile, useless, vain). (various references)

Portuguese		abortivo (abortifacient). (various references)

Romanian		abortiv, zadarnic (bootless, fruitless, futile, idle, ineffective, ineffectual, ineffectually, inexpedient, naught, nugatory, otiose, sinful, to no end, unavailing, unfruitful, unnecessary, useless, vain), van (flimsy, futile, idle, nugatory, useless, vain, vainglorious), rudimentar (inchoate, rude, rudimental, rudimentary), prematur (early, forward, immature, precocious, premature, prematurely, previous, untimely), nereuşit (bad, unsuccessful), incomplet (deficient, fragmentary, imperfect, incomplete, part, partial, partly, unaccomplished, unfinished), eşuat (aground, stranded). (various references)

Russian		неудачный (failed, infelicitous, unchancy, unfortunate, unlucky, unsuccessful, untoward), недоразвитый (aborted, neuter, slack-baked, underdeveloped), абортивный (abortional), бесполезны�, бесполезный (bootless, fatuous, feckless, fiddling, fruitless, futile, good for nothing, idle, inutile, naught, needless, nugatory, of no avail, otiose, unavailing, unhelpful, unprofitable, useless, valueless, virtueless), бесплодный (arid, barren, effete, fruitless, ineffectual, infertile, jejune, otiose, sterile, unavailing, vain), бес (aimless, crook, devil, fiend). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		abortivan, bezuspešan (futile). (various references)

Spanish		abortivo (abortifacient). (various references)

Swedish		misslyckad (unsuccessful). (various references)

Turkish		abes (absurd, fruitless, futile, meaningless, nonsense, nugatory, trivial, unfit, unreasonable, unsuitable, useless, vain), verimsiz (barren, emaciated, fruitless, idle, ineffectual, inefficacious, inefficient, infertile, jejune, lean, poor, sterile, thin, unfruitful, unproductive, unprofitable, unthrifty), prematüre (premature), kısır (barren, effete, fruitless, infertile, sterile, unfruitful), erken doğmuş (premature), düşük yaptıran, başarısız (ineffective, ineffectual, inefficacious, unfortunate, unfruitful, unlucky, unsuccessful). (various references)

Ukranian		невдалий (awry, bad, failed, ineffectual, infelicitous, lame, nasty, naughty, unfortunate, unhappy, unlucky, wide), недоразвинений, абортивний (aborted), безуспішний (unsuccessful), безплідний (arid, barren, effete, heartless, hungry, nonbearing, otiose, sterile), передчасний (anticipatory, precocious, premature, previous, untimely). (various references)

Vietnamese		đẻ non non yếu. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	abortivo, abortivum, abortivus, vanus. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "abortive": abortively, abortiveness, abortivenesses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Abortive" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: abortif, abotrite, abrive. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "abortive" (pronounced ubô"rtiv)
5	-ô" r t i v	supportive.
3	-t i v	accommodative, accumulative, accusative, acquisitive, active, adaptive, addictive, additive, adjective, administrative, adoptive, affective, affirmative, alliterative, alternative, anticompetitive, appointive, appreciative, argumentative, assaultive, assertive, attentive, attractive, authoritative, automotive, captive, causative, cognitive, collaborative, collective, combative, commemorative, communicative, comparative, competitive, conductive, congestive, connective, consecutive, conservative, constructive, consultative, contemplative, contraceptive, cooperative, corrective, corruptive, counterproductive, creative, cumulative, curative, deceptive, decorative, defective, definitive, degenerative, deliberative, demonstrative, derivative, descriptive, destructive, detective, digestive, dilutive, diminutive, directive, disincentive, disparages, dispositive, disruptive, dissipative, distinctive, distributive, duplicative, effective, elective, elucidative, eruptive, evocative, executive, exhaustive, expletive, exploitative, exploitive, facultative, Federative, festive, figurative, fixative, formative, fugitive, furtive, generative, hyperactive, hypersensitive, illustrative, imaginative, imitative, imperative, inactive, inattentive, incentive, indicative, ineffective, infective, infinitive, informative, initiative, injunctive, innovative, inoperative, inquisitive, insensitive, instinctive, instructive, interactive, interpretive, introspective, intuitive, invective, inventive, investigative, irrespective, iterative, laxative, legislative, locomotive, lucrative, manipulative, meditative, motive, narrative, native, negative, neoconservative, nonautomotive, noncompetitive, noncumulative, nonexecutive, nonnative, nonproductive, normative, nutritive, objective, obstructive, octave, operative, overactive, palliative, participative, pejorative, perceptive, perspective, photoconductive, plaintive, positive, predictive, preemptive, prerogative, preservative, presumptive, preventative, preventive, primitive, proactive, probative, productive, prognosticative, prohibitive, projective, prospective, protective, provocative, punitive, putative, qualitative, quantitative, radioactive, reactive, receptive, reconstructive, recuperative, redemptive, redistributive, reflective, refractive, regulative, rehabilitative, relative, remunerative, rep, repetitive, representative, reproductive, respective, restive, restorative, restrictive, retroactive, retrospective, secretive, sedative, seductive, selective, sensitive, speculative, stimulative, subjective, substantive, suggestive, superconductive, superlative, talkative, tentative, ultraconservative, unattractive, uncompetitive, uncooperative, unimaginative, uninformative, unproductive, unreceptive, unrepresentative, vegetative, vindictive, vituperative.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-i-o-r-t-v"
	-1 letter: obviate, vibrate, vibrato.
	-2 letters: baiter, barite, boater, borate, obvert, rebait, rebato, terbia, viator.
	-3 letters: abort, above, aiver, avert, bevor, biota, biter, boart, boite, brave, bravi, bravo, irate, oater, orate, orbit, ovate, overt, ratio, retia, rivet, taber, tabor, terai, trave, tribe, trove, vireo, vitae, voter.
	-4 letters: abet, abri, aero, airt, arvo, aver, bait, bare, bate, bear, beat, beta, bier, bite, boar, boat, bora, bore, bort, bota, brae, brat, brie, brio, brit, iota, obia, obit, over, rate, rato, rave, riot, rite, rive, robe, rota, rote, roti, rove, tare, taro, tear, tier, tire, tiro, toea, tora, tore, tori, trio, vair, vera, verb, vert, veto, vibe, vier, vita, vote.
	-5 letters: abo, air, ait, arb, are, art, ate, ave, avo, bar, bat, bet, bio, bit, boa, bot, bra, bro, ear, eat, era, eta, ire, oar, oat, obe, obi, ora, orb, ore, ort, ova, rat, reb, rei, ret, rev, ria, rib, rob, roe, rot, tab, tae, tao, tar, tav, tea, tie, toe, tor, var, vat, vet, via, vie, voe.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-i-o-r-t-v"
	+1 letter: probative, riverboat.
	+2 letters: abortively, absorptive, arborvitae, riverboats.
	+3 letters: abbreviator, arborvitaes, behaviorist, elaborative, inobservant, observation, overbeating, reprobative, vibratoless.
	+4 letters: abbreviation, abbreviators, abortiveness, behaviorists, obliterative, observations, removability.
	+5 letters: abbreviations, behavioristic, collaborative, corroborative, interbehavior, nonabsorptive, observability, observational, observatories, overambitious, overbreathing, overstability, reverberation, subordinative, subventionary, verbalization, verbigeration, vibrationless.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.