abolish

(ə-bŏl'ĭsh)
tr.v., -ished, -ish·ing, -ish·es.

1. To do away with; annul.
2. To destroy completely.

[Middle English abolisshen, from Old French abolir, aboliss-, from Latin abolēre.]

abolishable a·bol'ish·a·ble adj.
abolisher a·bol'ish·er n.
abolishment a·bol'ish·ment n.

SYNONYMS   abolish, exterminate, extinguish, extirpate, eradicate, obliterate. These verbs mean to get rid of: voted to abolish the tax; exterminated the cockroaches in the house; criticism that extinguished my enthusiasm; policies that attempt to extirpate drug abuse; scientists working to eradicate deadly diseases; a magnet that obliterated the data on the floppy disk.

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Both words date from the 16th century and have been used principally with reference to concepts and institutions such as authority, laws, beliefs, feelings, and sins. In the 18th century and 19th century, abolition took on special meanings relating to the slave trade and capital punishment, which caused abolishment to be restricted to more neutral and ad hoc uses emphasizing the process rather than the result

(The deregulation of financial markets and abolishment of fixed commission rates—Institutional Investor (NEXIS), 1989

It's a negation of him, an abolishment of him, like ripping a medal off his chest—Margaret Atwood in New Yorker, 1990).

There are roughly 40 times as many instances of abolition in the Old English (up to 1150)C as there are of abolishment.

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verb

1. To put an end to, especially formally and with authority: abrogate, annihilate, annul, cancel, invalidate, negate, nullify, set aside, vitiate, void. Law extinguish. See continue/stop/pause.
2. To destroy all traces of: annihilate, blot out, clear, eradicate, erase, exterminate, extinguish, extirpate, kill, liquidate, obliterate, remove, root, rub out, snuff out, stamp out, uproot, wipe out. Idioms: do away with, make an end of, put an end to. See help/harm/harmless, make/unmake.

v

Definition: do away with or put an end to
Antonyms: confirm, continue, enact, establish, institute, legalize, promote, ratify, support, uphold

John Brown's Fort in Harper's Ferry

Abolitionist John Brown was born on this day in 1800. In 1859, Brown and a small band of followers seized the U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, now in West Virginia, in an attempt to free slaves by force. A detachment of marines reclaimed the arsenal and captured Brown, who was tried for treason, convicted, and hanged on December 2, 1859.

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From our Archives: Today's Highlights, May 9, 2005

To repeal, recall, or revoke, to cancel and eliminate entirely. Refers especially to things of a permanent nature such as institutions, customs, and usages, as in the abolition of slavery by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

IN BRIEF: To do away with; to get rid of completely.

. . . whenever any form of government becomes destructive . . . it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it... — Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826); American statesman; third U.S. president (1801-1809); wrote Declaration of Independence

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See words rhyming with "abolisher."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Abolish.

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - afskaffe, ophæve, nedlægge

Nederlands (Dutch)
afschaffen

Français (French)
v. tr. - abolir, supprimer, abolir (la peine de mort), (Jur) abolir, abroger

Deutsch (German)
v. - abschaffen, aufheben, (poet.) zerstören

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - καταργώ, ακυρώνω, διαγράφω

Italiano (Italian)
abolire, sopprimere, abrogare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - abolir

Русский (Russian)
отменять, уничтожать

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - abolir, anular, eliminar, suprimir

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - avskaffa, upphäva

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
废止, 废除

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 廢止, 廢除

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 폐지하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 廃止する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يبطل, يمحو, يلغي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮ביטל, חיסל‬

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