Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

abom|ina|tion /əbɒ m I ne I ʃ ^ə n/ (abominations ) N‑COUNT If you say that something is an abomination , you think that it is completely unacceptable. [FORMAL , DISAPPROVAL ]

abo|rigi|nal /æ bər I dʒ I n ^ə l/ (aboriginals )

1 N‑COUNT An Aboriginal is an Australian Aborigine. □  The islands are considered by the west coast Aboriginals to be 'the place where time began'.

2 ADJ [ADJ n] Aboriginal means belonging or relating to the Australian Aborigines. □  …Aboriginal art.

3 ADJ [ADJ n] The aboriginal people or animals of a place are ones that have been there from the earliest known times or that were there before people or animals from other countries arrived.

Abo|rigi|ne /æ bər I dʒ I ni/ (Aborigines ) N‑COUNT [usu pl] Aborigines are members of the tribes that were living in Australia when Europeans arrived there.

abort /əbɔː ^r t/ (aborts , aborting , aborted )

1 VERB If an unborn baby is aborted , the pregnancy is ended deliberately and the baby is not born alive. [FORMAL ] □ [V n] Her lover walked out on her after she had aborted their child. □ [V -ed] …tissue from aborted fetuses. [Also V ]

2 VERB If someone aborts a process, plan, or activity, they stop it before it has been completed. □ [V n] The decision was made to abort the mission.

abor|tion ◆◇◇ /əbɔː ^r ʃ ^ə n/ (abortions ) N‑VAR If a woman has an abortion , she ends her pregnancy deliberately so that the baby is not born alive. □  His girlfriend had an abortion.

abor|tion|ist /əbɔː ^r ʃən I st/ (abortionists )

1 N‑COUNT An abortionist is someone who performs abortions, usually illegally.

2 → see also anti-abortionist

abor|tive /əbɔː ^r t I v/ ADJ [usu ADJ n] An abortive attempt or action is unsuccessful. [FORMAL ] □  …an abortive attempt to prevent the current President from taking office.

abound /əbaʊ nd/ (abounds , abounding , abounded ) VERB If things abound , or if a place abounds with things, there are very large numbers of them. [FORMAL ] □ [V ] Stories abound about when he was in charge. □ [V + with/in ] The book abounds with close-up images from space.

about ◆◆◆ /əbaʊ t/ In addition to the uses shown below, about is used after some verbs, nouns, and adjectives to introduce extra information. About is also often used after verbs of movement, such as 'walk' and 'drive', and in phrasal verbs such as 'mess about' and 'set about', especially in British English. 1 PREP You use about to introduce who or what something relates to or concerns. □  She came in for a coffee, and told me about her friend Shona. □  She knew a lot about food. □  The neighbours complained about the noise.

2 PREP When you mention the things that an activity or institution is about , you are saying what it involves or what its aims are. □  Leadership is about the ability to implement change.

3 PREP You use about after some adjectives to indicate the person or thing that a feeling or state of mind relates to. □  'I'm sorry about Patrick,' she said. □  I feel so guilty and angry about the whole issue.

4 PREP If you do something about a problem, you take action in order to solve it. □  Rachel was going to do something about Jacob.

5 PREP When you say that there is a particular quality about someone or something, you mean that they have this quality. □  I think there's something a little peculiar about the results of your test.

6 ADV About is used in front of a number to show that the number is not exact. □  In my local health centre there's about forty parking spaces. □  The rate of inflation is running at about 2.7 percent.