miscarry
Americanverb (used without object)
-
to have a miscarriage of a fetus.
-
to fail to attain the right or desired end; be unsuccessful.
The plan miscarried.
-
to go astray or be lost in transit, as a letter.
verb
-
to expel a fetus prematurely from the womb; abort
-
to fail
all her plans miscarried
-
(of freight, mail, etc) to fail to reach a destination
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
miscarrysimple
-
miscarriessimple
-
have miscarriedperfect
-
has miscarriedperfect
-
am miscarryingprogressive
-
are miscarryingprogressive
-
is miscarryingprogressive
-
have been miscarryingperfect progressive
-
has been miscarryingperfect progressive
Past
-
miscarriedsimple
-
had miscarriedperfect
-
was miscarryingprogressive
-
were miscarryingprogressive
-
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:
Lisa, 34, told her husband: "We're not waiting another year. We need to be pregnant and miscarry as soon as we possibly can."
From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026
Known as Oropouche virus, it can trigger a fever that may cause pregnant people to miscarry or their babies to have birth defects known as microcephaly, or smaller than usual heads.
From Salon ● Mar. 20, 2025
Up to one in four women who know they are pregnant will miscarry, according to the National Library of Medicine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
“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
If someone delivers or miscarries at a hospital, there are methods to dispose of remains already in place, usually mass graves.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2024
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
After Tyler miscarried, she threw herself into work.
From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026
Through his remissions, they pursued fertility treatments and rounds of IVF, but miscarried each time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
One of the women, she recalled, was about four months pregnant when she miscarried twins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 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
Three times she miscarried while trying to give me an heir.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
And data analyses by ProPublica showed that sepsis rates and blood transfusions spiked among miscarrying women after the ban went into effect — an indicator of dangerous delays in care across the state.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026
Most disturbing of all, women who were actively miscarrying, an already physically painful and emotionally shattering experience, said they were ignored entirely by facility staff.
From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2025
ProPublica previously reported on two such cases in which miscarrying women in Texas died of sepsis after doctors delayed evacuating their uteruses.
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
Q. Who else are in danger of miscarrying here?—A.
From Works of John Bunyan — Volume 02 by Bunyan, John
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.
