abolish

  • 1Abolish — A*bol ish, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Abolished}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Abolishing}.] [F. abolir, L. abolere, aboletum; ab + olere to grow. Cf. {Finish}.] 1. To do away with wholly; to annul; to make void; said of laws, customs, institutions, governments,… …

    The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • 2abolish — abolish, annihilate, extinguish, abate share the meaning to make nonexistent. Abolish seldom refers to purely physical objects but rather to such things as are the outgrowth of law, custom, human conception, or the conditions of human existence… …

    New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • 3abolish — abol·ish vt: to end the observance or effect of: annul Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. abolish …

    Law dictionary

  • 4abolish — a‧bol‧ish [əˈbɒlɪʆ ǁ əˈbɑː ] verb [transitive] LAW to officially end a law, a system for doing something, an organization etc, especially one that has existed for a long time: • Inheritance tax in Bulgaria was abolished in 2005. abolition noun… …

    Financial and business terms

  • 5abolish — [ə bäl′ish] vt. [ME abolisshen < OFr aboliss , extended stem of abolir < L abolescere, to decay little by little, inceptive of abolere, to retard, destroy: formed, with ab , from, to contrast with adolere, to increase, grow] to do away with …

    English World dictionary

  • 6abolish — (v.) mid 15c., from M.Fr. aboliss , prp. stem of abolir to abolish (15c.), from L. abolere destroy, cause to die out, retard the growth of, from ab from (see AB (Cf. ab )) + adolere to grow, from PIE *ol eye , causative of root *al to …

    Etymology dictionary

  • 7abolish — [v] do away with or put an end to abate, abrogate, annihilate, annul, call off, cancel, destroy, disestablish, dissolve, end, eradicate, erase, expunge, extinguish, extirpate, finish, inhibit, invalidate, kill, negate, nix, nullify, obliterate,… …

    New thesaurus

  • 8abolish — ► VERB ▪ formally put an end to (a practice or institution). ORIGIN Latin abolere destroy …

    English terms dictionary

  • 9abolish — abolishable, adj. abolisher, n. abolishment, n. /euh bol ish/, v.t. to do away with; put an end to; annul; make void: to abolish slavery. [1425 75; late ME < MF aboliss , long s. of abolir < L abolere to destroy, efface, put an end to; change of&#8230; …

    Universalium

  • 10abolish — 01. The death penalty was [abolished] in this country about 50 years ago. 02. Hitting children as punishment for bad behavior was [abolished] in schools when I was a child. 03. The government has passed a law [abolishing] prayer in public schools …

    Grammatical examples in English