birth control

[burth kuhn-trohl]

noun

1. 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.

2. 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.

birth control

noun

1. limitation of child-bearing by means of contraception See also family planning

birth control

1. Planned interference with conception in order to control the number of offspring born. Birth control techniques include drugs containing hormones, the diaphragm, and the intrauterine device.

birth control

1. The practice of preventing conception to limit the number of births. (See contraception, family planning, population control, and Margaret Sanger.)

Other Word Forms

• probirth-control adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of birth control¹

First recorded in 1905–10; popularized in 1914 by Margaret Sanger ( def. )

Related Words

• abstinence 
• condom 
• contraceptive 
• diaphragm 
• family planning 
• pill 
• vasectomy