midwife
Americannoun
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midwives
plural
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a person trained to assist women in childbirth.
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a person or thing that produces or aids in producing something new or different.
verb (used with object)
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to assist in the birth of (a baby).
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to produce or aid in producing (something new).
to midwife a new generation of computers.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of midwife
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English midwif, from mid “with, accompanying” ( Old English; see also meta-) + wif “woman” ( Old English wīf; see wife)
Explanation
A midwife is someone whose job involves helping women give birth to babies. Some pregnant women get their prenatal care from a midwife, as well as delivering their babies with a midwife's help. There are different categories of midwives — lay midwives attend home births, and nurse midwives also assist birthing women at hospitals and birth centers. In either case, a midwife is trained to understand the process of birth and techniques to make it easier and safe for mothers and newborn babies. Midwife literally means "woman who is with," or "woman assisting," from the Middle English mid, "with," and wif, "woman."
Vocabulary lists containing midwife
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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:
Every woman will have a designated midwife when they register for birth, while the ambulance service will be able to triage women to Craigavon Hospital or elsewhere as appropriate.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
On a spring afternoon in Wangaratta, nobody seemed to have a bad word to say about the former nurse and midwife turned politician.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Former nurse and midwife Helen Haines entered parliament in 2019, earning respect across the political divide for her efforts to stamp out corruption and bolster transparency.
From Barron's ● Oct. 20, 2026
"Recently, the pollution in Dili has been very severe," 30-year-old midwife Sonya da Costa Soares told AFP.
From Barron's ● Oct. 15, 2026
She could see the midwife coming in the distance, so Alyce spat on her fingers and rubbed a bit of stubborn dirt off Edward’s cheek.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
"The person I trained with trains medics, so it's not just non-medic doing these trainings. There's doctors, nurses, midwives, they are all actually doing the same training as well."
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
“Cárdenas was, in a real sense, one of the midwives of Mexico’s democratic transition,” said Kathleen Bruhn, a political science professor specializing in Mexico at the University of California.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
The number of midwives employed in the acute maternity units at Daisy Hill and Craigavon has fallen since October 2019.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
Mason recognised the work being done by healthcare staff, such as bereavement midwives, in Wales but said that "where it is good, there's not enough of it".
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
I had Grand Maester Pycelle and an army of midwives, and 1 had my brother.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
The actually existing Mets were also midwifed by Gotham honchos.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
He midwifed the country’s first farm labor bill, and was decades ahead of his time on renewable energy and climate change.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
"It's not going to stop with Black studies, it will continue to all the other subjects and knowledges that are midwifed and have been midwifed by Black studies."
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2023
The new country was cheered on in 2011 by the American diplomats who had midwifed its delivery and the Hollywood celebrities who championed its cause.
From New York Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
Szilard’s views on the program he midwifed had traveled a tortuous path.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
“There is lots to be proud of, including midwifing ten new plays by women playwrights from Los Angeles, into the American theatre through our Writers Workshop,” he wrote.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2022
In this new place, she's midwifing a future.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2021
And James will ironically be in the position of midwifing the next phase of America’s gun movement.
From Slate ● Sep. 3, 2020
However, Campbell is also sharply scrutinized for his role in midwifing and unleashing Dianetics.
From Nature ● Oct. 9, 2018
Mother charged about five hundred dollars for a delivery, and this was another way midwifing changed her: suddenly she had money.
From "Educated" by Tara Westover
Langhorne was midwived in a Bethesda hospital, the middle of three sons to a father who ran a concrete company.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 5, 2015
I pretend neither to the spirit of prophecy, nor to any uncommon skill in predicting a crisis; much less to tell when it begins to be nascent, or is fairly midwived into the world.
From James Otis, the pre-revolutionist by John Clark Ridpath
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
