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birth pangs

See more synonyms for birth pangs on Thesaurus.com
plural noun
  1. pains associated with the process of childbirth.
  2. Informal. the hardships and difficulties accompanying a major innovation, change, or new venture.
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Origin of birth pangs

First recorded in 1885–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for birth pangs

delivery, travail, birth, childbearing, parturition, throes, pains

Examples from the Web for birth pangs

Historical Examples of birth pangs

  • The curtains of the dark are already shaken by the birth-pangs of the morning.

    The Drunkard

    Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull

  • All those nameless discontents—they were no more than love's birth-pangs.

    Ann Veronica

    H. G. Wells

  • The marks of the birth-pangs remain on the land; its struggle for breath was too terrible, its scars too deep to hide or cover.

    The Maid-At-Arms

    Robert W. Chambers

  • It would seem as if bringing forth must be always accompanied by birth-pangs.

    The Secret Life

    Elizabeth Bisland

  • The birth-pangs of Democracy, wherewith convulsed Europe was groaning in cries that reached Heaven, could not escape me.