as in unsuccessful
producing no results
an abortive attempt to recover the sunken pirate ship
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Recent Examples of abortive
Yet Texas law forbids its state maternal mortality review committee from looking into the deaths of patients who received an abortive procedure or medication, even in cases of miscarriage.
—
Ziva Branstetter, ProPublica, 17 Jan. 2025
Trump had abortive talks with Democrats on issues ranging from guns to immigration, though little came of them.
—W. James Antle Iii, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 4 Jan. 2025
One is Eliot Spitzer, who during his abortive tenure as governor, knocked heads to get slow-mo insurers to pay the giant settlement that a court had awarded to Silverstein.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 11 Sep. 2024
The picture arrives, of course, at a fallow time for Marvel after a string of duds and an abortive attempt to introduce a new superhero phase following the climactic, stage-clearing (and absurdly lucrative) battles of Avengers: Endgame.
—Zoe Guy, Vulture, 25 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for abortive
Ziva Branstetter, ProPublica, 17 Jan. 2025
Trump had abortive talks with Democrats on issues ranging from guns to immigration, though little came of them.
—W. James Antle Iii, Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 4 Jan. 2025
One is Eliot Spitzer, who during his abortive tenure as governor, knocked heads to get slow-mo insurers to pay the giant settlement that a court had awarded to Silverstein.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 11 Sep. 2024
The picture arrives, of course, at a fallow time for Marvel after a string of duds and an abortive attempt to introduce a new superhero phase following the climactic, stage-clearing (and absurdly lucrative) battles of Avengers: Endgame.
—Zoe Guy, Vulture, 25 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for abortive
Recent Examples of Synonyms for abortive
Adjective
-
Each unsuccessful vote will be burned in a furnace with chemicals to dye the plume a black color.—
Timothy Nerozzi,
The Washington Examiner,
2 May 2025
-
During his unsuccessful 2022 congressional bid, Kent consulted with Nick Fuentes, the young white supremacist, and hired a campaign adviser who was a member of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group.—
Ali Breland,
The Atlantic,
1 May 2025
Adjective
-
These results, though significant, don’t necessarily mean that efforts to effectively mitigate deepfakes are futile.—
Mack DeGeurin,
Popular Science,
30 Apr. 2025
-
The similarly futile attempts to portray John Walker as a flawed but good man, despite his callous rage and murderous tendencies?—
Nola Pfau,
Vulture,
17 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Abortive.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/abortive. Accessed 7 May. 2025.
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