birth control
Americannoun
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regulation of the number of children born through the deliberate control or prevention of conception.
She campaigned and went to prison for the right of women to practice birth control.
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a drug, technique, or device used to deliberately control or prevent conception (often used attributively).
Diaphragms were a common form of birth control long before the invention of contraceptive pills.
Vasectomies are growing in frequency as a birth control method in many countries.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of birth control
First recorded in 1905–10; popularized in 1914 by Margaret Sanger ( 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.
A woman who has been diagnosed with three brain tumours believes they were caused by the birth control drug she took for more than 20 years.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
Around a decade later, when Danovich went to a clinic for another IUD—a small, T-shaped birth control device that’s inserted past the cervix into the uterus—she asked the doctor for pain medication.
From Slate ● Jun. 7, 2026
Later, the women share memories on the 1960s sociopolitical issues of birth control, homosexuality and the Vietnam War.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2026
“As providers, we should learn how to treat it, rather than covering it up with birth control pills or progesterone,” she said.
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026
About a year later, a New York woman connected with some sort of national birth control organization came to Montclair to form a local chapter.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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.
