miscarriage
Americannoun
-
miscarriages
plural
-
the expulsion of a fetus before it is viable, especially between the third and seventh months of pregnancy; spontaneous abortion.
-
failure to attain the just, right, or desired result.
a miscarriage of justice.
-
failure of something sent, as a letter, to reach its destination.
-
Chiefly British. transportation of goods not in accordance with the contract of shipment.
noun
-
spontaneous expulsion of a fetus from the womb, esp prior to the 20th week of pregnancy
-
an act of mismanagement or failure
a miscarriage of justice
-
the failure of freight to reach its destination
-
The premature, spontaneous expulsion of the products of pregnancy from the uterus, usually in the first trimester.
-
Also called spontaneous abortion
Discover More
Generally, a miscarriage is a failure to achieve a desired end, as in a miscarriage of justice.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of miscarriage
Explanation
A miscarriage, in medical terms, is the birth of a fetus before it's able to live independently of its mother. In other words, a miscarriage is the abrupt, early end of a pregnancy. The medical sense of miscarriage, which usually describes the very early loss of a pregnancy (later losses are often called stillbirths), is actually among the newer uses of the word. In the sixteenth century, a miscarriage was almost always a "mistake or error" or sometimes "misbehavior." Today, when something doesn't go the way it was supposed to, you might call it a miscarriage.
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:
The embryo must successfully implant, and then even after implantation and a positive pregnancy test there’s risk of miscarriage.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026
Her jokes about emotionally tough topics like miscarriage feel like your story, yet you never see the twist at the end of her joke coming.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026
She had suffered a "substantial" miscarriage of justice, they said, alleging a litany of irregularities and the misuse of evidence during the trial.
From Barron's ● Aug. 20, 2026
Since miscarriage by medical definition is before 20 weeks, the reported rate was misleading.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
A miscarriage is lonely, painful, and demoralizing almost on a cellular level.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
O'Brien has spent much of his life since his release campaigning for victims of miscarriages of justice.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
"We are talking about some very heavy things such as miscarriages and there are moments where we're talking about personal experiences," says Khalid.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
David and Ally had always wanted children but after Ally went through several painful miscarriages, they decided to adopt.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
Following a number of other controversial executions and a series of miscarriages of justice it was permanently abolished for murder in 1969.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
“I had four miscarriages before I finally had you.”
From "On the Come Up" by Angie Thomas
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.
