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Abortive   /əbˈɔrtɪv/   Listen
adjective
Abortive  adj.  
1.
Produced by abortion.as, an abortive child. (R.)
2.
Made from the skin of a still-born animal; as, abortive vellum. (Obs.)
3.
Rendering fruitless or ineffectual. (Obs.) "Plunged in that abortive gulf."
4.
Coming to naught; failing in its effect; miscarrying; fruitless; unsuccessful; as, an abortive attempt. "An abortive enterprise."
5.
(Biol.) Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile; as, an abortive organ, stamen, ovule, etc.
6.
(Med.)
(a)
Causing abortion; as, abortive medicines.
(b)
Cutting short the period of an illness; as, abortive treatment of typhoid fever.


noun
Abortive  n.  
1.
That which is born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion. (Obs.)
2.
A fruitless effort or issue. (Obs.)
3.
(Med.) A medicine to which is attributed the property of causing abortion; also called an abortifacient.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Abortive" Quotes from Famous Books



... The abortive attempt of the brigantine to stem the tide at the western end of Blackwell's, will be remembered. It had no other effect than to place her pursuer more in advance, and to convince her own commander that he had now no other resource than to continue his ...
— The Water-Witch or, The Skimmer of the Seas • James Fenimore Cooper
... They had exhausted their repertory of questions. Their mission threatened to become abortive, unless they could extract some positive admission. They must put a leading question; and their spokesman, for the fourth time, challenged the strange being, whom they found it so hard to label and place on any shelf of their ecclesiastical museum. "They ...
— John the Baptist • F. B. Meyer
... stamens and pistils) while others are staminate or pistillate. Hermaphrodite: Said of a flower having both stamens and pistils. Fertile: Said of a flower capable of bearing seed without pollen from another flower. Sterile: Said of a flower without or with abortive pistils. Perfect: Said of a flower having both stamens and pistils. Imperfect: Said of a flower wanting either stamens or pistils. Peduncle: The stalk of a flower-cluster. Pedicel: The stalk of each ...
— Manual of American Grape-Growing • U. P. Hedrick
... writer last quoted, "presided over all. The chivalrous sincerity and disinterestedness of Hamilton pervaded the assembly with all the power of his fascinating manners. The flashing eloquence of Gouverneur Morris recalled the dangers of anarchy, which must be accepted as the alternative of an abortive experiment. The calm, clear, statesmanlike views of Madison, the searching and profound expositions of King, the prudent influence of Franklin, at ...
— Life And Times Of Washington, Volume 2 • John Frederick Schroeder and Benson John Lossing
... Mrs. Besant, Sidney Webb, and Edward Carpenter, besides one by Stuart Glennie, who subsequently left us because we fought shy of the Marriage Question when revising our 'Basis.' I mention all this in order to show you how much more important this abortive Conference looked than the present one. Yet all that can be said for it is that it made us known to the Radical clubs and proved that we were able to manage a conference in a businesslike way. It also, by the way, showed ...
— The History of the Fabian Society • Edward R. Pease


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