miscarriage
Americannoun
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miscarriages
plural
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the expulsion of a fetus before it is viable, especially between the third and seventh months of pregnancy; spontaneous abortion.
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failure to attain the just, right, or desired result.
a miscarriage of justice.
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failure of something sent, as a letter, to reach its destination.
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Chiefly British. transportation of goods not in accordance with the contract of shipment.
noun
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spontaneous expulsion of a fetus from the womb, esp prior to the 20th week of pregnancy
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an act of mismanagement or failure
a miscarriage of justice
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the failure of freight to reach its destination
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The premature, spontaneous expulsion of the products of pregnancy from the uterus, usually in the first trimester.
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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:
That could mean the pregnancy is ectopic, but it may also be a miscarriage or normal pregnancy that’s too small to see.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
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
“All legal remedies are on the table going forward to respond to the miscarriage of justice,” said Norm Eisen, a member of Hearn’s legal team.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
For the first time I fully reckoned with the truth that the conviction, the death sentence, and the heartbreak and devastation of this miscarriage of justice had created permanent injuries.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
To understand the effect of insurance coverage, consider Michele Metz, a 34-year-old nurse from Murrieta who spent nearly $100,000 for unsuccessful IVF treatments four years ago after a history of multiple miscarriages and endometriosis.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
“I am 34 and have been pregnant multiple times, had two miscarriages, and two abortions. For this, I am being referred to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
O'Brien has spent much of his life since his release campaigning for victims of miscarriages of justice.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 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
The study, backed by Hunter Achebe’s Mirror Tech research laboratory, could identify the cause of recurrent miscarriages.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
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.
