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.
The incubation period ranges from 2 to 21 days.
From Science Daily • Jun. 22, 2026
But he warned there is a long way to go as the eggs are "only around two weeks into incubation" and a curlew's incubation period is around 28 days.
From BBC • May 31, 2026
The World Health Organization recommended people with high-risk exposure undergo quarantine at home or in a facility for 42 days “as a precautionary measure” because of the long incubation period of this virus.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 29, 2026
However, the virus has an incubation period of several weeks, meaning more cases from the ship's occupants could emerge in the future, Tedros warned.
From Barron's • May 18, 2026
The longer she incubated, the more deeply she went into the trance 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.
