brood
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to sit upon (eggs) to hatch, as a bird; incubate.
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(of a bird) to warm, protect, or cover (young) with the wings or body.
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to think or worry persistently or moodily about; ponder.
He brooded the problem.
verb (used without object)
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to sit upon eggs to be hatched, as a bird.
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to dwell on a subject or to meditate with morbid persistence (usually followed by over oron ).
adjective
verb phrase
noun
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a number of young animals, esp birds, produced at one hatching
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all the offspring in one family: often used jokingly or contemptuously
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a group of a particular kind; breed
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(as modifier) kept for breeding
a brood mare
verb
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to sit on or hatch (eggs)
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(tr) to cover (young birds) protectively with the wings
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to ponder morbidly or persistently
Synonym Usage
Brood, litter refer to young creatures. Brood is especially applied to the young of fowls and birds hatched from eggs at one time and raised under their mother's care: a brood of young turkeys. Litter is applied to a group of young animals brought forth at a birth: a litter of kittens or pups.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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broodsimple
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broodssimple
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have broodedperfect
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has broodedperfect
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am broodingprogressive
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are broodingprogressive
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is broodingprogressive
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have been broodingperfect progressive
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has been broodingperfect progressive
Past
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broodedsimple
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had broodedperfect
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was broodingprogressive
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were broodingprogressive
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had been broodingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of brood
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English brōd; cognate with Dutch broed, German Brut; see breed
Explanation
A brood is a group of young born at the same time — like a brood of chicks — but your parents might use the word for you and your siblings: "We're taking the whole brood to the movies tonight." Brood is also what a chicken does when she sits on her eggs to hatch them. You can also brood, when you worry and sulk and dwell on something obsessively — maybe as tedious as sitting on eggs, but no chicks when you're done. Things like clouds or silence can also brood, hanging over something ominously, as a storm that broods over the sea, sending fishermen scurrying for safety.
Vocabulary lists containing brood
Animal Farm
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Metaphors from Top AP English Exam Novels
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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.
See Examples For:
If you have your first at 27, or 35, there are simply fewer reproductive years to add to your brood.
From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2026
Simon Dudhill, who monitors the birds for Peterborough City Council's barn owl recovery scheme, said finding six owlets sharing a nest was "exceptionally good" and was the largest brood he had encountered in 2026.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
The past has not quite closed in—he and we will be left to brood about journeys made and not made.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 16, 2026
Then there was his promise to build her a dance studio on their massive estate; he turned it into a schoolhouse for their growing brood of children.
From Salon ● Apr. 8, 2026
She had two needs: food and Frightful’s warm brood patch, and now, at last, she had both.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
In those cases, fledging mass can drop by up to 27%, particularly for broods that hatch later in the breeding season.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2026
The actor noted that the family had embraced an abundance of wildlife on the ranch, including adding multiple animals to their broods, from pigs and chickens to horses, dogs, and cats.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 22, 2026
For decades, her adobe dwelling hosted waves of grandchildren and great-grandchildren as sons and daughters went back and forth, entrusting expanding broods to the matriarch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 22, 2025
The last time these particular broods emerged in the same year was two centuries ago in 1803.
From BBC ● May 22, 2024
The number of broods produced on treated lands fell off by some 50 per cent, and the number of young in a brood declined.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
He brooded over his verses, revising them for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 20, 2026
He brooded over the dwindling supplies of clean water and that too many people were competing for too little of it.
From Salon ● Nov. 14, 2024
These widely circulated comments are often received in isolation, to be interpreted without context and brooded over in silence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2024
Mr. Boehner, who resigned in 2015 under pressure from conservative Republican hard-liners, had some adjusting to do after he left the speakership, and, as recently as 2017, brooded about his purpose in life.
From New York Times ● Jun. 4, 2019
He smiled cheerfully at Rita as she brooded.
From "The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm" by Nancy Farmer
His strong voice and dark, brooding looks led to a wave what was termed at the time Bruelmania.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
But I can add some levity to the brooding atmosphere.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
His strong voice and dark brooding looks led to a public obsession that became known as Bruelmania.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
Its internal speaker plays a rumbling soundtrack that sends the drumsticks attached to the instrument flittering, giving the sense of a ghostly presence tapping out a brooding dirge.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026
The Meecham children were gifted in the fine art of brooding.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
