abolitionist

English

Etymology

First attested in 1788. abolition +‎ -ist.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌæ.bə.ˈlɪʃ.n̩.ɪst/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˌæ.bə.ˈlɪʃ.n̩.ɪst/, /ˌæ.bə.ˈlɪʃ.n̩.əst/

Adjective

abolitionist (comparative more abolitionist, superlative most abolitionist)

1. (historical) In favor of the abolition of slavery. [since the late 18^th century]

Translations

in favor of the abolition of slavery

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abolisjonistisk

• Polish: abolicjonistyczny (pl)

Noun

abolitionist (plural abolitionists)

1. A person who favors the abolition of any particular institution or practice. [since the late 18^th century]
   • 2005, Julia O'Connell Davidson, Children in the Global Sex Trade, Polity (→ISBN), page 107:

     Both feminist and religiously inspired abolitionists have long viewed, and continue to view, male demand for commercial sex as a root cause of prostitution.

   • 2007, J. Robert Lilly, Francis T. Cullen, Richard A. Ball, Criminological Theory: Context and Consequences, SAGE (→ISBN), page 198:

     Furthermore, abolitionists argue that prisons are a form of violence and should be destroyed because they reflect “a social ethos of violence and degradation" [...] Abolitionists argue that prisons should be replaced, or at least decentralized, by democratic community control and community-based treatment that would emphasize "redress" or "restorative justice."

2. (historical, US) A person who favored or advocated the abolition of slavery. [since the late 18^th century]
   • 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 3, in My Bondage and My Freedom. […], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan […], →OCLC:

     Among other slave notabilities of the plantation, was one called by everybody Uncle Isaac Copper. It is seldom that a slave gets a surname from anybody in Maryland; and so completely has the south shaped the manners of the north, in this respect, that even abolitionists make very little of the surname of a negro.

Synonyms

• woolly-head (historical), nigger lover (highly offensive)

Descendants

• Norwegian Bokmål: abolisjonist
• Polish: abolicjonista‎

Translations

person who favors the abolition

• Asturian: abolicionista m or f
• Belarusian: абаліцыяніст m (abalicyjanist)
• Catalan: abolicionista m or f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 廢除主義者／废除主义者 (fai³ ceoi⁴ zyu² ji⁶ ze²), 廢奴主義者／废奴主义者 (fai³ nou⁴ zyu² ji⁶ ze²)

  Mandarin: 廢除主義者／废除主义者 (fèichúzhǔyìzhě), 廢奴主義者／废奴主义者 (fèinúzhǔyìzhě)

• Dutch: abolitionist (nl) m
• Esperanto: aboliciisto
• Finnish: abolitionisti (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: abolitionniste (fr) m or f
• Galician: abolicionista m or f
• Italian: abolizionista m or f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: abolisjonist m

• Polish: abolicjonista (pl) m, abolicjonistka (pl) f
• Portuguese: abolicionista (pt) m or f
• Romanian: aboliționist (ro)
• Russian: аболиционист (ru) m (abolicionist)
• Spanish: abolicionista (es) m or f
• Ukrainian: аболіціоніст (uk) m (abolicionist), аболіціоністка f (abolicionistka)

References

• “abolitionist”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.