Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The act of doing away with or the state of being done away with; annulment.
  • noun Abolishment of slavery.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The act of abolishing, or the state of being abolished; annulment; abrogation; utter destruction: as, the abolition of laws, decrees, ordinances, rites, customs, debts, etc.; the abolition of slavery.
  • noun In law: Permission to desist from further prosecution.
  • noun Remission of punishment; condonation.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of abolishing, or the state of being abolished; an annulling; abrogation; utter destruction

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the act of abolishing a system or practice or institution (especially abolishing slavery)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Latin abolitiō, abolitiōn-, from abolitus, past participle of abolēre, to abolish; see abolish.]

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Examples

  • They first insisted that the abolition of the slave-trade would ruin the colonies -- next the _abolition of slavery_ was to be the certain destruction of the islands -- and now the education of children is deprecated as fraught with disastrous consequences.

    The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society

  • For the attending audience, the term "abolition" was not a novel concept.

    Marcia G. Yerman: A Different Kind of March Madness Marcia G. Yerman 2011

  • For the attending audience, the term "abolition" was not a novel concept.

    Marcia G. Yerman: A Different Kind of March Madness Marcia G. Yerman 2011

  • I understand the Rothbardian, knee-jerk impulse to say "abolish federal agency X," but I'm not sure abolition is even necessary, so long as people are allowed to "innovate around" existing bureaucracy.

    Interrupting the Statist Quo, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • The last successful American third party, the Republicans, had a noble cause in abolition and the dominant political imperative in American history: Union, and they elected several candidates to statewide office before Lincoln (their second Presidential nominee) won the White House.

    Matthew Yglesias » Why Two Parties? 2009

  • The Genies are long out of the bottle as the Scots and the Welsh assemblies would now have to make a serious mess of it to earn sufficient enmity, nay the deep hatred of their electorates that their abolition is demanded.

    Archive 2007-08-05 2007

  • The Genies are long out of the bottle as the Scots and the Welsh assemblies would now have to make a serious mess of it to earn sufficient enmity, nay the deep hatred of their electorates that their abolition is demanded.

    English Parliament: the Real Cure 2007

  • The pantomime and melodrama versions of Obi, or Three-finger'd Jack played an important role in abolition debates and in the career of Ira

    Abstracts 2002

  • And in addition to the word abolition, which comes from 1787, we have slave driver.

    America In So Many Words 1998

  • In slave lands, the word abolition was about as polite as some of the more colorful expletives of a river rat.

    Heartfire Card, Orson Scott 1998

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