aborted

Aborted is the past participle of abort, used as an adjective to denote something that was terminated before completion or a successful outcome. The term is used across various domains, including medicine, computing, and aerospace, with distinct technical meanings in each field.

Etymology and general use: The verb abort comes from Latin abortus, meaning miscarried or undeveloped. It entered English in the late Middle Ages, with the noun abortion appearing in the early modern period and aborted as a common participial form thereafter.

Medical usage: In medicine, abortion refers to the termination of a pregnancy. An aborted pregnancy can be spontaneous (a miscarriage) or induced (therapeutic abortion). The phrase “aborted,” when applied to a pregnancy or fetus, indicates that the pregnancy ended before viability or birth.

Computing and information technology: In computing, aborted describes an operation that did not complete, often due to an error or a user intervention. An aborted transaction may require rollback to restore a prior state. Programs or processes that are terminated as part of an abort sequence are said to have been aborted.

Aerospace, aviation, and robotics: In these fields, to abort means to terminate a mission or launch deliberately to protect lives or equipment. An abort sequence or abort mode initiates safeguards, such as cutting power, venting, or steering to a safe state. Aborted missions are analyzed post-event to improve safety and reliability.

See also: abortion.