abortion

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Induced termination of a pregnancy with destruction of the embryo or fetus.
• noun Any of various procedures that result in the termination of a pregnancy.
• noun Cessation of normal growth, especially of an organ or other body part, prior to full development or maturation.
• noun The premature ending or abandonment of an undertaking.
• noun Something that is regarded as poorly made or done.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Miscarriage; the expulsion of the fetus before it is viable—that is, in women, before about the 28th week of gestation.
• noun The product of untimely birth; hence, a misshapen being; a monster.
• noun Any fruit or product that does not come to maturity; hence, frequently, in a figurative sense, anything which fails in its progress before it is matured or perfected, as a design or project.
• noun In botany and zoology, the arrested development of an organ at a more or less early stage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of giving premature birth; particularly, the expulsion of the human fetus prematurely, or before it is capable of sustaining life; miscarriage.
• noun The immature product of an untimely birth; a fetus which has been delivered prematurely due to spontaneous or voluntary abortion, and is dead.
• noun (Biol.) Arrest of development of any organ, so that it remains an imperfect formation or is absorbed.
• noun Any fruit or produce that does not come to maturity, or anything which in its progress, before it is matured or perfect; a complete failure.
• noun the removal of a fetus from the womb prior to normal delivery in a manner such as to cause the death of the fetus; also called voluntary abortion, or when performed by a physician, therapeutic abortion.
• noun something considered to be a repulsive or monstrous variant of a normal object; a monstrosity.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Any fruit or produce which is interrupted in its progress before it is matured or perfect; an idea, project, or anything that does not come to maturity.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun termination of pregnancy
• noun failure of a plan