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PlainSpell

abort

/əˈbɔɹt/noun, verb

abort is spelled A-B-O-R-T: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, abort means “An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of abort is aborts.

How many letters and syllables are in abort?

Letters5: A-B-O-R-T
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing1.9 times per million words; the 20,356th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is abort?

Abort appears 1.9 times per million words in written English, the 20,356th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce abort?

  • UK /əˈbɔːt/
  • US /əˈbɔɹt/

Abort has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-abort.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with abort?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as abort from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹt/):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: tabor, rabot.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of abort

  • aborts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • aborting participle, present
  • aborted participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does abort mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission.

    We've had aborts on three of our last seven launches.

  2. 2

    The function used to abort a process.

  3. 3

    An event in which a process is aborted.

    We've had three aborts over the last two days.

  4. 4

    archaicThe product of a miscarriage; an aborted offspring; an abortion.

  5. 5

    obsoleteA miscarriage; an untimely birth; an abortion.

verb

  1. 1

    To miscarry; to bring forth (non-living) offspring prematurely.

  2. 2

    To cause a premature termination of (a fetus); to end a pregnancy before term.

  3. 3

    To end prematurely; to stop in the preliminary stages; to turn back.

  4. 4

    To stop or fail at something in the preliminary stages.

  5. 5

    To become checked in normal development, so as either to remain rudimentary or shrink away wholly; to cease organic growth before maturation; to become sterile.

  6. 6

    To cause an organism to develop minimally; to cause rudimentary development to happen; to prevent maturation.

  7. 7

    To abandon a mission at any point after the beginning of the mission and prior to its completion.

  8. 8

    To terminate a mission involving a missile or rocket; to destroy a missile or rocket prematurely.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate abort?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of abort: ab.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Abort in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanAbort (early termination of a mission), Abbruch (function used to abort a process), Schwangerschaftsabbruch (miscarriage), abbrechen (computing: to terminate a process prior to…)
Portugueseabort, abortamento (function used to abort a process), aborto, abortado (product of a miscarriage), abortar, perder (to miscarry)
Frenchfausse couche (miscarriage), avorton (product of a miscarriage), faire une fausse couche (to miscarry), avorter, interrompre, abandonner (to cause a premature termination)
Spanishaborto (miscarriage), abortar (to miscarry)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does abort come from?

From Middle English, from Latin abortus, perfect active participle of aborior (“miscarry”), formed from ab + orior (“to come into being”). Doublet of abortus.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after abort