Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Abolish
A-bol′ish
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Abolished
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Abolishing
.] 1.
To do away with wholly; to annul; to make void; – said of laws, customs, institutions, governments, etc.;
as, to
. abolish
slavery, to abolish
folly2.
To put an end to, or destroy, as a physical objects; to wipe out.
[Archaic]
And with thy blood
abolish
so reproachful blot. Spenser.
His quick instinctive hand
Caught at the hilt, as to
Caught at the hilt, as to
abolish
him. Tennyson.
These words have in common the idea of setting aside by some overruling act. Abolish applies particularly to things of a permanent nature, such as institutions, usages, customs, etc.; as, to abolish monopolies, serfdom, slavery. Repeal describes the act by which the legislature of a state sets aside a law which it had previously enacted. Abrogate was originally applied to the repeal of a law by the Roman people; and hence, when the power of making laws was usurped by the emperors, the term was applied to their act of setting aside the laws. Thus it came to express that act by which a sovereign or an executive government sets aside laws, ordinances, regulations, treaties, conventions, etc. Revoke denotes the act of recalling some previous grant which conferred, privilege, etc.; as, to revoke a decree, to revoke a power of attorney, a promise, etc. Thus, also, we speak of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Annul is used in a more general sense, denoting simply to make void; as, to annul a contract, to annul an agreement. Nullify is an old word revived in this country, and applied to the setting of things aside either by force or by total disregard; as, to nullify an act of Congress. Cancel is to strike out or annul, by a deliberate exercise of power, something which has operative force.
Webster 1828 Edition
Abolish
ABOL'ISH
,Verb.
T.
1.
To make void; to annul; to abrogate; applied chiefly and appropriately to established laws, contracts, rites, customs and institutions - as to abolish laws by a repeal, actual or virtual.2.
To destroy, or put an end to; as to abolish idols. Isa. ii. To abolish death 2Tim. i. This sense is not common. To abolish posterity, in the translation of Pausanias, Lib. 3. Ca. 6, is hardly allowable.Definition 2024
abolish
abolish
English
Verb
abolish (third-person singular simple present abolishes, present participle abolishing, simple past and past participle abolished)
- To end a law, system, institution, custom or practice. [First attested from around 1350 to 1470.][3]
- Slavery was abolished in the nineteenth century.
- 2002, William Schabas, The abolition of the death penalty in international law, Cambridge University Press, title:
- The abolition of the death penalty in international law
- (archaic) To put an end to or destroy, as a physical object; to wipe out. [First attested from around 1350 to 1470.][3]
- (Can we date this quote?), Edmund Spenser, (Please provide the title of the work):
- And with thy blood abolish so reproachful blot.
- (Can we date this quote?), Alfred Tennyson, (Please provide the title of the work):
- His quick instinctive hand Caught at the hilt, as to abolish him.
-
Conjugation
Conjugation of abolish
| infinitive | (to) abolish | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| present tense | past tense | |||
| 1st person singular | abolish | abolished | ||
| 2nd person singular | abolish, abolishest1 |
|||
| 3rd person singular | abolishs, abolisheth1 |
|||
| plural | abolish | |||
| subjunctive | abolish | |||
| imperative | abolish | — | ||
| participles | abolishing | abolished | ||
| 1) Archaic or obsolete. | ||||
Synonyms
- (to end a law, system, institution, custom or practice): abrogate, annul, cancel, dissolve, nullify, repeal, revoke
Antonyms
Related terms
Translations
to end a law, system, institution, custom or practice
|
|
to destroy
|
References
- ↑ Laurence Urdang (editor), The Random House College Dictionary (Random House, 1984 [1975], ISBN 0-394-43600-8), page 4
- ↑ Philip Babcock Gove (editor), Webster's Third International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged (G. & C. Merriam Co., 1976 [1909], ISBN 0-87779-101-5), page 4
- 1 2 Lesley Brown (editor), The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition (Oxford University Press, 2003 [1933], ISBN 978-0-19-860575-7), page 6