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 is between two and 21 days, and people aren’t usually contagious before symptoms.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 22, 2026
The incubation period is between two and 21 days, and the mortality rate in past Bundibugyo outbreaks was between 30% and 50%.
From MarketWatch • May 17, 2026
In his view, “the long incubation period creates challenges” because Allen says he isn’t convinced that there’s no pre-symptomatic transmission.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026
With hantavirus, the incubation period can take up to six weeks, so people must be isolated for a really long time to ensure they won’t get sick and start infecting others.
From Slate • May 16, 2026
Doctors performed the operation while he was in the incubation period after his exposure to Ebola.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
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.
