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• s  failing to accomplish an intended result
  an abortive revolt

• They are still recovering from the shock of an abortive coup d'tat last December.
• Amid the savagery of the abortive revolution, brawny workmen slew several priests with impunity.
• He later realized that it may have been a reference to the abortive July 4 terror attacks in London and Glasgow where medical personnel, including doctors, were among those arrested.

• stillborn
• unsuccessful

News & Articles

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• What others say: North Korea's nightmare
  As last week's abortive meeting between the two Koreas illustrated, the region's foreign policy often seems to be at the...
  June 21, 2013 - Deseret News
• Plight of North Koreans persists amid posturing
  As last week's abortive meeting between the two Koreas illustrated, the region's foreign policy often seems to be at the mercy of Pyongyang's irrational whims. This week, North Korea was at it again, proposing high-level talks with Washington just a few months after it threatened to bomb Austin, Texas.
  June 21, 2013 - Times Leader
• Insight: Who wants to bet on a 'Nicaragua Canal'?
  By Ivan Castro and Lomi Kriel MANAGUA/PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - For centuries since the colonization of the New World, entrepreneurs have dreamed of building a canal spanning Nicaragua to make it easier to tap Asia's riches. Sixteenth century Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes yearned to cleave the isthmus, and ever since, French, American and Dutch financiers have all made abortive, Quixotic ...
  June 20, 2013 - Reuters via Yahoo! News

Quotes

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• Vojislav Kostunica in Javno.hr
  We are leaving Ahtisaari's abortive proposal behind us,Tanjug quoted Kostunica as saying.
• John Updike in Boston Globe
  When I was young,Mr. Updike said in that Globe interview, "I thought I wanted to be a kind of latter-day [James] Thurber or [Robert] Benchley. ...... The abortive humorist, who passed away -- like the dinosaurs becoming birds -- became...