abolish
part of speech
verb (abolish, abolishes, abolished, abolishing)
meaning for a pupil
1) To officially end a law, rule, system or custom so that it no longer exists. tree →
2) To get rid of something completely. tree →
sense in the lessons
Common in history lessons: countries abolished slavery, some abolished the death penalty, schools abolish old rules. It tells the reader that something was ended by a decision of people in power, not just forgotten. Phrases: abolish a law, abolish a tax, abolish slavery, call to abolish.
examples
- Many countries fought to abolish slavery. tree →
- The school abolished the rule about wearing hats. tree →
- Some people want to abolish homework for young children. tree →
- The new government promised to abolish the tax. tree →
- Britain abolished the slave trade after a long campaign. tree →
- Our club abolished the joining fee, so now it is free. tree →
- That rite was abolished by 4 Geo. iv. c. 52. tree →
note
Used for laws, systems and customs, not for objects: you abolish a rule but you throw away rubbish. The noun is abolition; a person who wanted to abolish slavery was an abolitionist. Formal word; in everyday talk people say "get rid of" or "scrap".
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «abolish» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.