- An opinion in favor of the abolition of something; the tenets of abolitionists. [First attested in the early 19th century.]
- In the US this almost always refers to the historical movement to abolish slavery.
opinion in favor of the abolition of something
- ^ “abolitionism” in Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2002, ↑ISBN, page 6.