abolish

[uh-bol-ish] /əˈbɒl ɪʃ/
verb (used with object)
1.
to do away with; put an end to; annul; make void:
to abolish slavery.
Origin
1425-75; late Middle English < Middle French aboliss-, long stem of abolir < Latin abolēre to destroy, efface, put an end to; change of conjugation perhaps by association with Latin abolitiō abolition
Related forms
abolishable, adjective
abolisher, noun
abolishment, noun
unabolishable, adjective
unabolished, adjective
well-abolished, adjective
Synonyms
suppress, nullify, cancel; annihilate, obliterate, extinguish; exterminate, extirpate, eliminate. Abolish, eradicate, stamp out mean to do away completely with something. To abolish is to cause to cease, often by a summary order: to abolish a requirement. Stamp out implies forcibly making an end to something considered undesirable or harmful: to stamp out the opium traffic. Eradicate (literally, to tear out by the roots ), a formal word, suggests extirpation, leaving no vestige or trace: to eradicate all use of child labor.
Antonyms
establish.
Examples from the web for abolish
  • The process of abolishing the death penalty moved forward at an unusually fast pace.
  • In 1953 a plan to abolish the city of Miami failed by only 980 votes.
  • Several states have attempted but failed to abolish the law.
  • This program is now dormant pending a decision to continue or to abolish it.
  • It's hard to create new rules, but it's easy to abolish existing ones.
  • Nationally known as an outstanding librarian, storyteller and author she worked to abolish stereotypes in children's literature.
  • To pay for her plan, she would abolish the guaranteed-loan program and freeze the estate tax.
  • The plan would not abolish cancellation fees entirely.
  • It is the 24th amendment that abolished poll taxes.
  • One of the new government's first tasks was to abolish the centuries-old monarchy.
British Dictionary definitions for abolish

abolish

/əˈbɒlɪʃ/
verb
1.
(transitive) to do away with (laws, regulations, customs, etc); put an end to
Derived Forms
abolishable, adjective
abolisher, noun
abolishment, noun
Word Origin
C15: from Old French aboliss- (lengthened stem of abolir), ultimately from Latin abolēre to destroy
Word Origin and History for abolish
v.

mid-15c., from Middle French aboliss-, present participle stem of abolir "to abolish" (15c.), from Latin abolere "destroy, cause to die out, retard the growth of," perhaps from ab- "from" (see ab-) + adolere "to grow," from PIE *ol-eye-, causative of root *al- "to grow, nourish" (see old), and perhaps formed as an antonym to adolere. But the Latin word rather could be from a root in common with Greek ollymi, apollymi "destroy." Tucker writes that there has been a confusion of forms in Latin, based on similar roots, one meaning "to grow," the other "to destroy." Application to persons and concrete objects has long been obsolete. Related: Abolished; abolishing.