# abortion

Pronunciation: US say "uh-BOR-shuhn" /əˈbɔɹ.ʃn̩/; UK say "uh-BAW-shuhn" /əˈbɔːʃən/

## Noun

1. Deliberate termination of a pregnancy through medicine or a medical procedure, ending the development of the embryo or fetus.
   - Simple: The deliberate ending of a pregnancy using medicine or a medical procedure.
   - _The doctor explained the options for a first-trimester abortion._
   - _Access to legal abortion varies widely between countries._
2. Spontaneous loss of a pregnancy before the fetus is developed enough to survive; a miscarriage.
   - Simple: The unplanned loss of a pregnancy at an early stage, also called a miscarriage.
   - _The veterinarian recorded an abortion in the herd after the disease outbreak._
   - _An untreated infection raised her risk of abortion during the second trimester._
3. The failure or abandonment of a project, promise, or goal before it is achieved.
   - Simple: Complete failure or giving up of a plan, goal, or promise.
   - _Critics called the reform an abortion, abandoned halfway through with nothing to show._
   - _The merger became an expensive abortion after months of failed negotiations._
4. A misshapen or grossly deformed person or thing; a monstrosity.
   - Simple: A badly shaped or ugly person or thing, like a monster.
   - _The sculpture struck visitors as an abortion, all twisted limbs and broken proportions._
   - _Critics dismissed the redesign as an abortion of mismatched styles._

## Noun

5. The expelled fetus or embryo itself, the result of a miscarriage or termination. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An unborn baby that has been lost or expelled before birth.
   - _The physician preserved the abortion in a jar for later examination._
   - _The ledger recorded the abortion found among the bedding that night._

## Other meanings

- (noun) The expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the womb before it has fully developed, so that it does not survive.
- (noun) The arrested development of an organ, leaving it as an imperfect structure or causing it to be absorbed.
- (noun) The halting of an illness or disease at a very early stage, before it fully takes hold.

## Origin

From Latin abortiōnem ("miscarriage, abortion"), from aborior ("to miscarry"); it can be analyzed as abort plus the suffix -ion. It displaced the native Old English ǣwyrp, literally "throwing out, rejection."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/abortion (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).