![abolitionist abolitionist](https://www.tekportal.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/abolitionist-3071.jpg)
noun
- (especially prior to the Civil War) a person who advocated or supported the abolition of slavery in the U.S.
- a person who favors the abolition of any law or practice deemed harmful to society: the abolitionists who are opposed to capital punishment.
1795, from abolition + -ist. In Britain, applied 20c. to advocates of ending capital punishment.