abortive

adj

1. (obsolete)Produced by abortion; born prematurely and therefore unnatural.

   “an abortive child”

   “Thou elvish-marked, abortive, rooting hog!”

2. Coming to nothing; failing in its effect. .

   “an abortive attempt”

   “[…] and with utter loss of being / Threatens him, plung'd in that abortive gulf.”

   “The king in vain excused his hasty retreats and abortive enterprises”

   “He made a salutation, or, to speak nearer the truth, an ill-defined, abortive attempt at curtsy.”

   “Not surprisingly, ERS has that market covered. It now owns all five of the vehicles fitted with generators for the abortive Nightstar services through the Channel Tunnel.”

3. Imperfectly formed or developed; rudimentary; sterile.

   “an abortive organ”

   “an abortive stamen”

   “an abortive ovule”

4. (rare)Causing abortion; abortifacient.

   “abortive medicines”

   “Each country may have a different prevalence of infectious abortive agents. The most common agents of abortion in cattle are Brucella spp., Campylobacter spp., Chlamydiaceae, Coxiella burnetii, Leptospira spp., […]”

5. Cutting short; acting to halt or slow the progress (of a disease).

   “abortive treatment of typhoid fever”

   “Even with prophylaxis, children often experience episodic breakthrough headaches that require abortive treatment. […] Abortive therapies in the ED include dopamine antagonists and anti-inflammatory agents.”

6. Having a short and mild progression, without pronounced symptoms.
7. Made from the skin of a still-born animal.

   “abortive vellum”

noun

1. (obsolete)Someone or something born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion.
2. (obsolete)A fruitless effort.
3. (obsolete)A medicine that causes abortion, an abortifacient.
4. (obsolete)A medicine or treatment acting to halt or slow the progress of a disease.

   “Naphthalin was praised by Rosbach as an abortive in typhoid fever; Kraemer in 1886, Wilcox in 1887, Sehwald in 1889 and Wolff of Philadelphia in 1891 confirmed Rosbach's observations.”

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive)To cause an abortion; to render without fruit.