Meaning

4 senses

  1. (obsolete)Someone or something born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion.

    Abort, Abtreibung, Interruptio

  2. (obsolete)A fruitless effort.

    Erfolglosigkeit

  3. (obsolete)A medicine that causes abortion, an abortifacient.

    Abtreibungsmittel

  4. (obsolete)A medicine or treatment acting to halt or slow the progress of a disease.

Examples

2 sentences

  1. Their effort proved abortive.

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · shekitten · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. This Anglo-Teutonic, castellated, gothized structure must be considered as an abortive production, at once illustrative of bad taste and defective judgment.

    CC0 · Tatoeba · Cangarejo · C2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

3 languages
Deutsch
that which is born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion:
fruitless effort:
medicine that causes abortion:

Origin

First attested in 1382, with the meaning "causing stillbirth or miscarriage". From Middle

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”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: abortives
Singularabortive
Pluralabortives

regular

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
aborigineB1abortabortionaboundC1aboutA1
abortive — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto