abolish

UK: /əˈbɒlɪʃ/ US: /əˈbɑlɪʃ/ ,(ə bol′ish)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

a•bol•ish /əˈbɑlɪʃ/   v. [~ + object]

1. to do away with completely:
   to abolish slavery; abolish a law.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

a•bol•ish  (ə bol′ish), v.t. 

1. to do away with;
   put an end to;
   annul;
   make void:
   to abolish slavery.

• Latin abolēre to destroy, efface, put an end to; change of conjugation perh. by association with Latin abolitiō abolition
• Middle French aboliss-, long stem of abolir
• late Middle English 1425–75

a•bol′ish•a•ble, adj. 
a•bol′ish•er, n. 
a•bol′ish•ment, n. 
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.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

abolish / əˈbɒlɪʃ/ verb

1. (transitive) to do away with (laws, regulations, customs, etc); put an end to

Etymology: 15th Century: from Old French aboliss- (lengthened stem of abolir), ultimately from Latin abolēre to destroy

aˈbolishable adjective

aˈbolisher noun

aˈbolishment noun