| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| abolish |
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| SYLLABICATION: | a·bol·ish |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   -b l  sh |
| TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: a·bol·ished, a·bol·ish·ing, a·bol·ish·es
1. To do away with; annul. 2. To destroy completely. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English abolisshen, from Old French abolir, aboliss-, from Latin abol re. See al-2 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | a·bolish·a·ble —ADJECTIVE
a·bolish·er —NOUN
a·bolish·ment —NOUN
| | 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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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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