maternity leave

American  

noun

• maternity leaves
  plural

1. a leave of absence for an expectant or new mother for the birth and care of the baby.

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maternity leave British  

noun

1. a period of paid absence from work, in Britain currently six months, to which a woman is legally entitled during the months immediately before and after childbirth

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• maternity leaves
  plural

Etymology

Origin of maternity leave

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

maternity leave

To minimize conflict concerns, Mare offhandedly volunteers to temporarily work at the Cincinnati Chronicle, the Teller’s sister paper, while some of its staff members are on maternity leave.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026

Wallace says that because women typically take much longer for maternity leave than dads do for paternity leave, they become the "default parent" very early on.

From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026

I’d rather stay at home and enjoy my baby’s first year, but maternity leave is so short.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026

The person actually leaving, of course, is White House “pep secretary” Karoline Leavitt, who returned from paid maternity leave about a month ago and has only briefed the press corps twice since returning.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026

It was a good workplace, allowing her to take six weeks of maternity leave after Lexie’s birth, then Trip’s, then Moody’s.

From "Little Fires Everywhere" by Celeste Ng