əˈbälish, -ēsh, esp in pres part -əsh transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
Etymology: Middle French aboliss-, stem of abolir to abolish, from Latin abolēre to abolish, destroy, probably back-formation from abolescere to disappear, from ab- ab- (I) + -olescere (as in adolescere to grow up) — more at adult
1. : to do away with wholly : annul — used chiefly of laws, customs, institutions, traditions
abolish slavery
abolished bedtime during the holidays
2. : to destroy completely
a fog … abolished the landscape — Aldous Huxley
Synonyms:
annihilate , extinguish , abate : abolish indicates the definitive ending or causing a cessation of being or operating; it is used typically but not always with customs, traditions, conditions, conceptions rather than with more tangible items like things or persons
abolish racial discrimination
trying to abolish child labor
abolishing a primitive custom
no plan will be acceptable unless it abolishes poverty — G.B.Shaw
the political liberalism which threatened to abolish some of the most flagrant abuses in the Church of England — W.R.Inge
unfair that the anonymous churl, with an iron tube and some gunpowder and a great slug of lead, could abolish a knight — Tom Wintringham
annihilate indicates utter destruction precluding any chance of re-creation, reforming, revivifying
the events of this week annihilated the immature plans of last week — Charles Dickens
the pollution of the Delaware river and bay by sewage and chemicals has practically annihilated the sturgeon — American Guide Series: Delaware
the realization that for the first time the homes and cities of the United States itself can be annihilated by enemy attack — Aidan Crawley
extinguish may suggest a putting out, choking off, stifling, smothering, as water extinguishes fire
Italy, where the instincts of ancient Rome never were extinguished — H.O.Taylor
a religion of their own which was thoroughly and painfully extinguished by the Inquisition — T.S.Eliot
though the literal extirpation of a nation is an impossibility, there is every reason to believe that the Celtic inhabitants of those parts of Britain which had become English at the end of the sixth century had been as nearly extinguished as a nation could be — A.T.Quiller-Couch
abate , now almost always a synonym for lessen or decrease, in legal usage may indicate abolishing or bringing to an end
abate a nuisance