miscarriage
Americannoun
-
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:
When Shruti suffered a miscarriage, she said a reaction she often got was "but you're looking fine. you don't look like you have had a miscarriage".
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
The beauty mogul’s former private chef alleges a grueling workload led to her miscarriage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026
As Justice Kagan explained, there was another scenario in which an appeal waiver can be void, and that’s when enforcing the appeal waiver would lead to a miscarriage of justice.
From Slate ● Jun. 18, 2026
Another midwife recalled being told she had to return to the labour ward to deliver babies, after she had personally experienced a late miscarriage.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
I didn’t suffer the agony of miscarriage, I just didn’t get pregnant.
From "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins
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
Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own compensation schemes for miscarriages of justice.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2026
After seven rounds of IVF and two miscarriages, his wife, Jennifer, finally gave birth to a boy and a girl.
From BBC ● Jun. 26, 2026
Sammi went on to have four more miscarriages.
From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2026
She’d had a few miscarriages and Dennis was her only son, but he went to New York because he wanted to pursue music.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
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.
