abortive
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]First attested in 1382, with the meaning "causing stillbirth or miscarriage". From Middle English abortif, from Old French abortif,[1] from Latin abortīvus (“causing abortion”), from aborior (“miscarry, disappear”), from ab (“amiss”) + orior (“appear, be born, arise”).[2]
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]abortive (comparative more abortive, superlative most abortive)
- (obsolete) Produced by abortion; born prematurely and therefore unnatural. [c. 1400–mid 1700s][1]
- an abortive child
- c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!
- Coming to nothing; failing in its effect. [from late 1500s].[1]
- Synonyms: miscarrying, fruitless, unsuccessful, useless
- an abortive attempt
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, published 1799:
- […] and with utter loss of being / Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf.
- 1838, William H. Prescott, History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella:
- The king in vain excused his hasty retreats and abortive enterprises
- 1851 April 9, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields:
- He made a salutation, or, to speak nearer the truth, an ill-defined, abortive attempt at curtsy.
- (biology) Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile. [from mid 1700s][1]
- (medicine, pharmacology, rare) Causing abortion; abortifacient.
- 1809, Bartholomew Parr, Medical Dictionary:
- abortive medicines
- 2018 May, Carla Sebastiania, Ludovica Curcioa, Marcella Ciulloa, Deborah Crucianib, Silvia Crottib, Cristina Pescab, Martina Torricellia, Martina Sebastianellia, Andrea Felicic, Massimo Biagetti, “A multi-screening Fast qPCR approach to the identification of abortive agents in ruminants”, in Journal of Microbiological Methods, volume 148, , page 12:
- Each country may have a different prevalence of infectious abortive agents. The most common agents of abortion in cattle are Brucella spp., Campylobacter spp., Chlamydiaceae, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira spp., […]
- (medicine) Cutting short; acting to halt or slow the progress (of a disease).
- abortive treatment of typhoid fever
- 2016 December, David C. Sheridan, Garth D. Meckler, “Inpatient Pediatric Migraine Treatment: Does Choice of Abortive Therapy Affect Length of Stay?”, in The Journal of Pediatrics, volume 179, , page 211:
- Even with prophylaxis, children often experience episodic breakthrough headaches that require abortive treatment. […] Abortive therapies in the ED include dopamine antagonists and anti-inflammatory agents.
- (medicine, of a disease) Having a short and mild progression, without pronounced symptoms.
- Made from the skin of a still-born animal.
- abortive vellum
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]produced by abortion; born prematurely
coming to naught; fruitless
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imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile
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causing abortion
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medicine: cutting short
medicine: having a short and mild progression
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made from the skin of an unborn animal
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Noun
[edit]abortive (plural abortives)
- (obsolete) Someone or something born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion. [Attested from around (1150 to 1350) until the mid 18th century.][1]
- (obsolete) A fruitless effort. [Attested from the early 17th century until the early 18th century.][1]
- (obsolete) A medicine that causes abortion, an abortifacient.
- (obsolete) A medicine or treatment acting to halt or slow the progress of a disease.
- 1897 August 7, E. Viko, “On the Treatment of Typhoid Fever”, in The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume 29, number 6, Chicago, Ill., , page 274:
- Naphthalin was praised by Rosbach as an abortive in typhoid fever; Kraemer in 1886, Wilcox in 1887, Sehwald in 1889 and Wolff of Philadelphia in 1891 confirmed Rosbach's observations.
Translations
[edit]that which is born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion
fruitless effort
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medicine that causes abortion
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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Verb
[edit]abortive (third-person singular simple present abortives, present participle abortiving, simple past and past participle abortived)
- (transitive, obsolete) To cause an abortion; to render without fruit. [Attested only in the 17th century.][1]
References
[edit]- “abortive”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief, William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abortive”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 7.
- ^ Elliott K. Dobbie, C. William Dunmore, Robert K. Barnhart, et al. (editors), Chambers Dictionary of Etymology (Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2004 [1998], →ISBN), page 4
French
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]abortive
German
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Audio: (file)
Adjective
[edit]abortive
- inflection of abortiv:
Italian
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]abortive
Anagrams
[edit]Latin
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /a.borˈtiː.u̯e/, [äbɔrˈt̪iːu̯ɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /a.borˈti.ve/, [äborˈt̪iːve]
Adjective
[edit]abortīve
Norwegian Bokmål
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /abɔˈʈiːʋə/, /abɔʁˈtiːʋə/
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -iːʋə
- Hyphenation: ab‧or‧ti‧ve
- Homophone: abortivet
Adjective
[edit]abortive
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