Origin: Latin suffix -ive
Abortive has 4 different meanings across 1 category:
Someone or something born or brought forth prematurely; an abortion.
To cause an abortion; to render without fruit.
failing to accomplish an intended result
"an abortive revolt"
"a stillborn plot to assassinate the President"
Produced by abortion; born prematurely and therefore unnatural.
First attested in 1382, the word "abortive" originally meant "causing stillbirth or miscarriage." It comes from Latin abortīvus, which described something that causes an abortion.