Abortive

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /əˈbɔɹ.tɪv/

Definitions

1. Unsuccessful or failing to achieve the intended result, ending prematurely without completion
2. Not achieving the desired outcome or goal; coming to a halt before completion
3. Failing to reach success in an effort or action; stopping early before finishing

Etymology: The word's earliest English sense had nothing to do with failed plans. In 1382 it meant "causing stillbirth or miscarriage," a grim medical meaning that the word kept for well over a century before it drifted toward the figurative sense it carries today. It comes from Latin "abortivus," meaning "causing abortion," which itself grew from "aborior," a verb meaning "miscarry" or "disappear." That verb is built from "ab," meaning "amiss" or "away," and "orior," meaning "appear, be born, arise." Literally, then, the Latin image is of something that arises wrongly and fails to come into the world, which explains how a word for a miscarriage could come to describe any effort that collapses before it is finished. Modern English builds the adjective on "abort" plus the suffix "-ive," which fits the pattern of many Latin-derived adjectives such as "active" and "passive." The verb "abort" is itself a back-formation from the adjective's Latin root, so the two words share a single ancestry.

Synonyms: unsuccessful, failed, fruitless, incomplete, futile

Antonyms: successful, effective, fruitful, achieving, prosperous