abortive

Did you ever start something and not finish it? If so, that was an abortive project. Abortive things don’t get finished.

Abortive is a variation of abort, which means to end something, so something abortive never reaches its end point. If you tried like crazy to run a marathon but couldn’t finish, your efforts were abortive. If someone tripped you during the marathon, their efforts were abortive too. Abortive things always lead to the words “The end.” Abortive can also be a way of avoiding the word unsuccessful.