Abolish — 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
abolish — 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
abolish — abol·ish vt: to end the observance or effect of: annul Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996. abolish … Law dictionary
abolish — 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
abolish — [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
abolish — (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
abolish — [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
abolish — ► VERB ▪ formally put an end to (a practice or institution). ORIGIN Latin abolere destroy … English terms dictionary
abolish — 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
abolish — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) v. t. annul, cancel, abrogate; exterminate, wipe out. See nullification, destruction. Ant., establish, reinstate. II (Roget s IV) v. Syn. suppress, eradicate, terminate, exterminate, obliterate, do away… … English dictionary for students