fatherhood
Americannoun
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the state of being a father.
-
fathers collectively.
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the qualities or spirit of a father.
noun
Usage
What does fatherhood mean? Fatherhood is the state of being a father. A person enters fatherhood when they become a father. This most commonly happens when their child is born, but it can also happen through adoption or by marrying or becoming a partner to someone with children. Fatherhood is a gender-specific version of the term parenthood. Less commonly, fatherhood can refer to all fathers collectively, as in You won’t find a better dad in all of fatherhood. Example: People who have not experienced fatherhood probably shouldn’t be so quick to criticize how dads parent their children.
Etymology
Origin of fatherhood
1350–1400; late Middle English faderhode; replacing Middle English faderheed. See father, -hood
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.
Clinical psychologists Hillary Halpern and Maureen Perry-Jenkins documented that the transition from single life to fatherhood is often accompanied by a roller coaster of emotions.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 19, 2026
Ms. Saxbe advances conversations long deferred and never more necessary, particularly in her arguments for integrating fatherhood and professional goals.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
Enter “Dad Brain,” a scintillating if uneven book by Darby Saxbe, a professor of psychology at the University of Southern California and an expert on fatherhood.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 19, 2026
He spends chapters meditating on trauma and fatherhood, on periods of feeling spiritually adrift, on coming to love a “majestic” faith tradition while remaining connected to the rowdy evangelicals of his childhood.
From Slate • Jun. 18, 2026
Soraya had hers, the general his, and I had this: that perhaps something, someone, somewhere, had decided to deny me fatherhood for the things I had done.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
