birth
Americannoun
-
births
plural
-
an act or instance of being born.
the day of his birth.
-
the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring; childbirth; parturition.
a difficult birth.
-
lineage; extraction; descent.
of Grecian birth.
-
high or noble lineage.
to be foolishly vain about one's birth.
-
natural heritage.
a musician by birth.
-
any coming into existence; origin; beginning.
the birth of Protestantism; the birth of an idea.
- Synonyms:
- inauguration, genesis, inception, commencement, start
-
Archaic. something that is born.
verb (used with object)
-
births,
present (3rd person singular)
-
birthed,
past participle, past
-
birthing
present participle
-
to give birth to.
-
to assist in giving birth; act as midwife for.
idioms
noun
-
the process of bearing young; parturition; childbirth
-
the act or fact of being born; nativity
-
the coming into existence of something; origin
-
ancestry; lineage
of high birth
-
noble ancestry
a man of birth
-
natural or inherited talent
an artist by birth
-
archaic the offspring or young born at a particular time or of a particular mother
-
-
to bear (offspring)
-
to produce, originate, or create (an idea, plan, etc)
-
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
birthsimple
-
birthssimple
-
have birthedperfect
-
has birthedperfect
-
am birthingprogressive
-
are birthingprogressive
-
is birthingprogressive
-
have been birthingperfect progressive
-
has been birthingperfect progressive
Past
-
birthedsimple
-
had birthedperfect
-
was birthingprogressive
-
were birthingprogressive
-
had been birthingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of birth
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English byrthe, from Scandinavian; compare Old Swedish byrth; cognate with Old English gebyrd, Old High German giburt, Gothic gabaurths; cf. bear 1 ( def. ), -th 1 ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Leavitt, who gave birth to her second child in early May, announced on August 12 that she was leaving her position to devote more time to her family.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
During his recovery, Maddison's partner gave birth to their second set of twins.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
Once when young, Sorcinelli met the former Robert Prevost -- the birth name of Pope Leo -- then just an Augustinian priest, but the men have not spoken since, he said.
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
State laws on the subject vary considerably, with some prohibiting commercial surrogacy and others liberally permitting it and even issuing parentage orders before birth.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
Somewhere in the Archipelago, moments after Mal flew, a woman gave birth.
From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell
Woodley’s work was informed by a cousin who’s a midwife, friends who are parents and a few births she’s attended.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026
The MPI estimates, external that between 20,000 to 26,000 babies were born in the US annually as a result of birth tourism, which is about 0.5 to 0.7% of total annual births.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Between 2016 and 2023, first births among women 35 and older increased 25%.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 1, 2026
Across a decade, that translates to almost 7,000 fewer births than if totals had remained steady.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
Mandy had never told me that fairies liked to go to weddings and births.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
But as Caulfield noted, the wellness movement has undergone a major cultural change in the past half-decade that has made it almost unrecognizable from the movement that birthed MAHA.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
In the wake of the Manhattan Project that birthed the atomic era — and with it, the ever-present threat of nuclear war — people acted immediately to bring attention to this new threat.
From Salon ● Jun. 15, 2026
“HungryGhost is birthed from Margo’s experience of feeling like an alien,” Fanning says.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 20, 2026
Some new fortunes were birthed out of Harvard Management, which runs Harvard’s endowment—overseen by uncle and nephew Paul and Walter Cabot in the latter half of the last century.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
He could not behold the fiery heart without thinking of the shadow Melisandre had birthed in the gloom beneath Storm's End.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Zika can spread from a birthing parent to their child in the womb and cause congenital disabilities, which notoriously led to panic after an outbreak erupted in Brazil in 2015.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Like the spine, the human pelvis must balance two competing demands: efficient bipedal walking and birthing large-brained infants.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
It’s got a birthing scene like no other.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
The gas was released on maternity units when cannisters were connected, birthing mothers exhaled, and when the equipment was faulty, according to papers filed at the High Court.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
After checking their security in the cart, the birthing attendant had ridden off toward the Nurturing Center to deliver them there.
From "Son" by Lois Lowry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
