incubation
American-
The act of warming eggs in order to hatch them, as by a bird sitting upon a clutch of eggs in a nest.
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The act of keeping an organism, a cell, or cell culture in conditions favorable for growth and development.
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The maintenance of an infant, especially one that is ill or born before the usual gestation period, in an environment of controlled temperature, humidity, and oxygen concentration in order to provide optimal conditions for growth and development.
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The development of an infection from the time the pathogen enters the body until signs or symptoms first appear.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of incubation
First recorded in 1605–15, incubation is from the Latin word incubātiōn- (stem of incubātiō ). See incubate, -ion
Explanation
In science, incubation is a process of development. An incubation period is when a disease takes hold and produces symptoms — and it's also the phase of an egg getting ready to hatch. The egg meaning of incubation is the original one — the word is derived from the Latin incubare, "to hatch." When a hen sits on her eggs, warming them beneath her so they will be able hatch, that's incubation. And when an infection is in the process of "hatching" into an active illness, complete with symptoms, it's also incubation, often described as an incubation period.
Vocabulary lists containing incubation
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.
Tracing its source poses particular difficulties for two reasons: an incubation period of up to two weeks before symptoms first appear, and lack of a genetic fingerprint, unlike, say, E. coli.
From Slate ● Jul. 22, 2026
The incubation period of Ebola ranges from two to 21 days and the humanitarian worker will be required to isolate throughout.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
South Kivu has now gone 49 consecutive days without confirming a new Ebola case, exceeding the disease’s maximum 42-day incubation period, the U.N. said this week.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 16, 2026
The incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 22, 2026
When the sun set that night, Sam cut one more notch in a stick to keep track of the thirty-one days of incubation.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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.
