'antiabolitionist' originates from English, formed by the prefix 'anti-' (from Greek 'anti-' meaning 'against') + 'abolitionist' (from 'abolition' + '-ist'), where 'anti-' meant 'against' and 'abolitionist' meant 'one who favors abolition'.

'antiabolitionist' developed as a compound in modern English by adding the prefix 'anti-' to 'abolitionist'. 'Abolition' itself comes from Latin 'abolitio' (from 'abolēre' 'to destroy' or 'to abolish'), which passed into Middle English via Old French.

Initially it described someone who was 'against abolition' (typically of slavery); this core meaning has remained stable, though its primary historical reference is to opposition to the abolition of slavery in the 18th–19th centuries.