maternity leave

American

noun

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

maternity leave British

noun

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

maternity leaves

plural

Etymology

Origin of maternity leave

First recorded in 1965–70

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:

maternity leave

At the time, “having to ask for anything in the workplace other than a maternity leave was unheard of,” said McGrail, who was working for a public-relations firm in New York City.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 7, 2026

Osaka briefly stepped away from tennis in 2021 to prioritise her mental health before taking 15 months of maternity leave with daughter Shai, who was born in July 2023.

From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026

She will be making history as Japan's first ever mayor to take maternity leave.

From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026

Fifa regulations state maternity leave for female footballers should be "a minimum period of 14 weeks' paid absence" - eight weeks of which must be after the birth.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2026

“So what if your maternity leave went on for thirteen years longer than planned?”

From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023