Pronunciation: [ɐbˈɔːtɪv] (IPA) 
The word abortive (/əˈbɔːtɪv/) is spelled with nine letters. The first syllable, "a", is pronounced as a schwa sound /ə/. The second syllable, "bor", has a stress on the first vowel /ɔː/. The third syllable, "tive", ends with the consonant cluster "tive" /tɪv/. The word means unsuccessful or failing to achieve the intended purpose. The phonetic transcription helps to understand how to pronounce and spell the word correctly.
Abortive is an adjective that refers to something that has been unsuccessful, incomplete, or interrupted, often pertaining to plans, attempts, or actions. It describes an action or process that has not been able to achieve its intended purpose or goal, resulting in failure or termination before its completion.
In the context of plans or actions, an abortive endeavor is characterized by its failure to reach fruition or success. It implies a lack of fulfillment, usually due to unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances hindering progress. For example, an abortive revolution would be one that fails to overthrow the existing regime, often due to the intervention of law enforcement or other factors impeding its success.
Abortive can also describe a failed attempt of a living organism's reproduction. In this biological context, it emphasizes the lack of success in the fertilization or development of an embryo, leading to the termination of the reproductive process.
Moreover, the term abortive can be used to describe the incomplete development or stoppage of a disease, medical condition, or symptom. In this sense, it indicates that the expected progression or severity of the ailment has been significantly reduced or cut short, preventing it from reaching its full manifestation.
Overall, abortive encompasses the idea of an unsuccessful or prematurely terminated action, plan, process, or endeavor, suggesting that the intended outcome has not been achieved, often due to external circumstances or internal issues.
1. Not coming to completion, said, for example, of an attack of a disease which subsides before it has become fully developed or has run its full course. 2. Rudimentary. 3. Cutting short an attack of a disease. 4. Abortifacient.
A practical medical dictionary. By Stedman, Thomas Lathrop. Published 1920.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "abortive" originated from the Latin term "abortivus", which is derived from the verb "abōriri". "Abōriri" means "to miscarry" or "to be unsuccessful". In Middle English, it was adopted as "abortif", meaning "preventative of birth" or "causing miscarriage". Eventually, it evolved into the present form "abortive", describing anything that is unsuccessful or fails to reach its intended goal.
