miscarry
Americanverb (used without object)
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miscarries,
present (3rd person singular)
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miscarried,
past participle, past
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miscarrying
present participle
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to have a miscarriage of a fetus.
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to fail to attain the right or desired end; be unsuccessful.
The plan miscarried.
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to go astray or be lost in transit, as a letter.
verb
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to expel a fetus prematurely from the womb; abort
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to fail
all her plans miscarried
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(of freight, mail, etc) to fail to reach a destination
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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miscarrysimple
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miscarriessimple
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have miscarriedperfect
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has miscarriedperfect
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am miscarryingprogressive
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are miscarryingprogressive
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is miscarryingprogressive
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have been miscarryingperfect progressive
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has been miscarryingperfect progressive
Past
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miscarriedsimple
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had miscarriedperfect
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was miscarryingprogressive
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were miscarryingprogressive
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had been miscarryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of miscarry
First recorded in 1275–1325, miscarry is from the Middle English word miscarien. See mis- 1, carry
Vocabulary lists containing miscarry
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:
She knew she would have to miscarry again before she could get the help she needed.
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
At her 10-week appointment, she learned that her child had triploidy, a genetic condition where a fetus has three sets of chromosomes instead of two, and would miscarry late-term or die at birth.
From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2025
Listeria infections are especially serious for anyone who is pregnant, as a listeria infection during pregnancy can cause a patient to miscarry, deliver a stillbirth, or deliver the baby early.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2025
“A lot of people successfully miscarry on their own, but that can take a couple months,” Loren said in an interview.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
Even with the arrows gone they fared little better, for Athena had now come to take a part in the great deeds being done and she made each attempt to reach Odysseus miscarry.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Then there is the well-known problem of incomplete miscarriage, which may arise after a patient miscarries naturally, or begins a medication abortion.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2022
One of its most talked-about sequences came when Fleabag’s sister miscarries in a restaurant toilet cubicle.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 22, 2020
Once the life is established, can a mother insure a six-week fetus and collect if she miscarries?
From Washington Post ● May 17, 2019
Is a woman who miscarries early responsible for fishing her small, sometimes hard-to-identify embryo out of a blood-filled toilet bowl before flushing?
From New York Times ● Jan. 5, 2019
"It is spoken with understanding and foresight. But how do I draw back my arm if all this miscarries?"
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
Through his remissions, they pursued fertility treatments and rounds of IVF, but miscarried each time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
In one case, a pregnant woman miscarried after becoming ill, the agency said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2025
Eventually, she began to see brown discharge and was taken to an off-site hospital where, days later, health care providers confirmed she had miscarried.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2025
But after a bleed early on, a test showed Rhiannon had miscarried at eight weeks.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2025
She never rode since she fell years ago and miscarried the baby that would have come between Lyddie and Charles.
From "Lyddie" by Katherine Paterson
As she was miscarrying and bleeding profusely, she said physicians didn’t explain that she had options for care.
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2025
The standard of care for miscarrying patients in the second trimester is to offer to empty the uterus, according to leading medical organizations, which can lower the risk of contracting an infection and developing sepsis.
From Salon ● Feb. 21, 2025
"I was not prepared for the shock of miscarrying at work during my first pregnancy," she said.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
The standard of care is to offer miscarrying women a procedure to empty the uterus.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2024
Miscarriage, mis-kar′ij, n. the act of miscarrying: failure: ill-conduct: the act of bringing forth young prematurely.—v.i.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various
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.
