abortion

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Termination of pregnancy and expulsion of an embryo or of a fetus that is incapable of survival.
2. n. Any of various procedures that result in such termination and expulsion. Also called induced abortion.
3. n. The premature expulsion of a nonviable fetus from the uterus; a miscarriage.
4. n. Cessation of normal growth, especially of an organ or other body part, prior to full development or maturation.
5. n. An aborted organism.
6. n. Something malformed or incompletely developed; a monstrosity.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Miscarriage; the expulsion of the fetus before it is viable—that is, in women, before about the 28th week of gestation. Expulsion of the fetus occurring later than this, but before the normal time, is called (when not procured by art, as by a surgical operation) premature labor. A somewhat useless distinction has been sometimes drawn between abortion and miscarriage, by which the former is made to refer to the first four months of pregnancy and the latter to the following three months. Criminal abortion is premeditated or intentional abortion procured, at any period of pregnancy, by artificial means, and solely for the purpose of preventing the birth of a living child; feticide. At common law the criminality depended on the abortion being caused after quickening. Some modern statutes provide otherwise.
2. n. The product of untimely birth; hence, a misshapen being; a monster.
3. n. Any fruit or product that does not come to maturity; hence, frequently, in a figurative sense, anything which fails in its progress before it is matured or perfected, as a design or project.
4. n. In botany and zoology, the arrested development of an organ at a more or less early stage.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any fruit or produce which is interrupted in its progress before it is matured or perfect; an idea, project, or anything that does not come to maturity.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of giving premature birth; particularly, the expulsion of the human fetus prematurely, or before it is capable of sustaining life; miscarriage.
2. n. The immature product of an untimely birth; a fetus which has been delivered prematurely due to spontaneous or voluntary abortion, and is dead.
3. n. (Biol.) Arrest of development of any organ, so that it remains an imperfect formation or is absorbed.
4. n. Any fruit or produce that does not come to maturity, or anything which in its progress, before it is matured or perfect; a complete failure.
5. n. the removal of a fetus from the womb prior to normal delivery in a manner such as to cause the death of the fetus; also called voluntary abortion, or when performed by a physician, therapeutic abortion.
6. n. something considered to be a repulsive or monstrous variant of a normal object; a monstrosity.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. termination of pregnancy
2. n. failure of a plan