abortive
adjective
abor·tive
ə-ˈbȯr-tiv 
1
obsolete
: prematurely born
2
3
: imperfectly formed or developed
4
: tending to cut short
abortively
adverb
abortiveness
noun
Examples of abortive in a Sentence
an abortive attempt to recover the sunken pirate ship
Recent Examples on the Web
On the one hand, as Tevye is fond of saying, the story unfolds in a hardscrabble shtetl in the Ukrainian plains in the months leading up to the Russian Empire’s abortive 1905 revolution.
—
David Lyman, The Enquirer, 25 July 2025
Nove dissected key episodes in Soviet economic history, from the New Economic Policy of the 1920s and farm collectivization in the 1930s to the heavy industry drive and abortive economic reforms under Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, and other Soviet leaders.
—Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022
Microsoft is well-positioned to run a redo of Valve's abortive Steam Machines effort, only this time without the performance headaches and limited library of Linux ports that plagued that effort.
—ArsTechnica, 18 June 2025
In the abortive March 2022 draft deals, Russia even expressed a willingness to return to preinvasion lines.
—Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for abortive
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David Lyman, The Enquirer, 25 July 2025
Nove dissected key episodes in Soviet economic history, from the New Economic Policy of the 1920s and farm collectivization in the 1930s to the heavy industry drive and abortive economic reforms under Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev, and other Soviet leaders.
—Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2022
Microsoft is well-positioned to run a redo of Valve's abortive Steam Machines effort, only this time without the performance headaches and limited library of Linux ports that plagued that effort.
—ArsTechnica, 18 June 2025
In the abortive March 2022 draft deals, Russia even expressed a willingness to return to preinvasion lines.
—Fred Weir, Christian Science Monitor, 30 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for abortive
Cite this Entry
“Abortive.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abortive. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
abortive
adjective
abor·tive
ə-ˈbȯrt-iv
1
: unsuccessful in achieving the desired conclusion or result
an abortive escape attempt
2
: imperfectly formed or developed : rudimentary
abortively
adverb
abortiveness
noun
Medical Definition
abortive
adjective
abor·tive
ə-ˈbȯrt-iv
1
: imperfectly formed or developed : rudimentary
2
a
b
: cutting short
abortive treatment of pneumonia
c
: failing to develop completely or typically
an abortive case of poliomyelitis
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