Abolish

How to spell abolish

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce abolish

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does abolish mean?

1. verbTo formally put an end to a law, system, practice, or institution.

Abolish in a sentence

• The new government promised to abolish the unpopular property tax.

• Campaigners spent decades fighting to abolish slavery across the empire.

Where does abolish come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin verb abolere, meaning 'to destroy, to efface, or to do away with', which some scholars link to the prefix ab- 'away from' combined with a root related to growth, giving a literal sense of 'to cause to die away' or 'to retard the growth of'. English took it in during the late 1400s through Old French abolir, whose stem in forms such as aboliss- supplied the familiar -ish ending we also see in finish, punish, and cherish. From the start it carried the meaning of putting a formal end to something, especially a law, custom, or institution, and this is exactly the sense that endured. Over the centuries it became strongly associated with ending slavery and abolishing oppressive systems, which fixed it firmly in legal and political language. A useful spelling reminder is that, despite sounding like a soft middle, the word has a single l and ends in -ish rather than -ash or -esh.

How the word is built

• ab- (away, off)
• -olish (from Latin abolere: to destroy, do away with; ending shaped by French -iss- verb forms)