abolishing
Doing away with
Abolishing is ending something completely and permanently, typically an institution, practice, or system: The movement focused on abolishing slavery.
Unlike merely reducing or reforming, abolishing implies total elimination: abolishing the death penalty, abolishing nuclear weapons.
The word carries weight—you abolish things that matter.
Destroy completely, utterly
- eliminateRemove completely
- extirpateDestroy utterly, completely
- obliterateDestroy all traces of
- exterminateDestroy completely, every one
annihilate · destroy · expunge · wipe out · uproot · stamp out · purge · excise
Annul a statute
- annulDeclare legally void
- revokeOfficially cancel authorization
- nullifyMake of no effect
- rescindFormally cancel or withdraw
abrogate · invalidate · quash · void · overturn · strike down · prohibition · ban
Release from legal bondage
- slaveryOwnership of people
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
- enfranchiseGrant voting rights
unshackle · unfetter · bondage · servitude · antislavery · Thirteenth Amendment · Wilberforce · Douglass
Complete systematic repair
- transformationThorough change in form
- restructuringRearranging an existing framework
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
- dismantlingTaking apart systematically
phasing out · discontinuation · ending · termination · cessation · removal · change · replacement
eradicate
Destroy completely, utterly
- eliminateRemove completely
- extirpateDestroy utterly, completely
- obliterateDestroy all traces of
exterminate · annihilate · destroy · expunge · wipe out · uproot · stamp out · purge · excise · efface
repeal
Annul a statute
rescind · abrogate · invalidate · quash · void · overturn · strike down · prohibition · ban · proscribe
emancipation
Release from legal bondage
- slaveryOwnership of people
- freedomAbsence of constraint
- manumissionFormal freeing of enslaved
enfranchise · unshackle · unfetter · bondage · servitude · antislavery · Thirteenth Amendment · Wilberforce · Douglass · liberation
overhaul
Complete systematic repair
- transformationThorough change in form
- restructuringRearranging an existing framework
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
dismantling · phasing out · discontinuation · ending · termination · cessation · removal · change · replacement · transition
- eliminatingeliminating, eradicating, wiping out, exterminating, annihilating
- cancellation wordscancellation, revoking, voiding, annulment, repeal
abolishingestablishing
Creating or setting up
creating · instituting · founding · introducing · constructing
abolishinglegalizing
Making permissible by statute
authorizing · sanctioning · ratifying · permitting · legitimizing
abolishingpreserving
Protecting from deterioration
maintaining · keeping · upholding · retaining · perpetuating
abolish, unabashed, abolition, abolished, abolitionist, reestablishment, unabashedly, abolishes, abolishment