childbearing

[ chahyld-bair-ing ]

/ ˈtʃaɪldˌbɛər ɪŋ /

the act of producing or bringing forth children.

capable of, suitable for, or relating to the bearing of a child or of children: the childbearing years.

Nearby words

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at child, bearing

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

As Claire Cain Miller of The New York Times points out, “workplaces could be seen as paying women to put off childbearing.”
Don’t Be Fooled by Apple and Facebook, Egg Freezing Is Not a Benefit|Samantha Allen|October 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The women in her family die young from childbearing and harsh living.
Book Bag: Gritty Stories From the Real Montana|Carrie La Seur|October 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Potential recruits are told their main role in the Islamic revolution will be through matrimony and childbearing, not martyrdom.
The Bride of ISIS Revealed|Jamie Dettmer|September 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The author assumes that pair bonds are not only always heterosexual, but always motivated by childbearing decisions.
Junk Science: PMS Will Ruin Your Marriage|Kate Clancy|August 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Some 18 percent of married women have only one child by the end of their childbearing years, double what it was 30 years ago.
America’s One-Child Policy|Brandy Zadrozny|July 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
It is most important that the childbearing wife and mother have a long period of rest between births.
Sex|Henry Stanton
The women went to the limit in childbearing, and the burden of rearing their large families was awful.
The Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town of New Milford, Conn. June 17th, 1907|Daniel Davenport
The world is turning round and over and back to that one previous historical era when the aversion to childbearing was widespread.
The Women of Tomorrow|William Hard
What was her flesh but for childbearing, her strength for her children and her husband, the giver of life?
The Rainbow|D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence
Having a harder time in childbearing means a slower convalescence, a need for more rest and care.
The Nervous Housewife|Abraham Myerson