birth pangs

plural noun

1. pains associated with the process of childbirth.

2. Informal.,  the hardships and difficulties accompanying a major innovation, change, or new venture.

Word History and Origins

Origin of birth pangs¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

"I started having birth pangs pretty much as we started leaving Carlisle," she said.

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Colin adds that despite the franchise's birth pangs, there was a sense within the original team that they were on to something.

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Among "birth pangs," a "hollow" and "a vacancy," "The Rabbit Catcher" includes objects that resemble umbilical cords.

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Lemon writes that we may be seeing “the death throes of White supremacy in concert with the birth pangs of racial renaissance.”

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His knack for conveying compositional struggle ingeniously reflects his theme — a nation’s birth pangs.

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