mother

¹ American  

[muhth-er] / ˈmʌð ər /

noun

1. a woman who has borne offspring; a female parent.

2. Often Mother one’s own female parent.

   I should give Mother a call today.

   Our mother did not approve of many of the shenanigans we got up to.

3. a mother-in-law, stepmother, foster mother, female adoptive parent, or female guardian.

4. Usually Mother a term of address for a female parent or a woman having or regarded as having the status, function, or authority of a female parent.

   Thank you for coming, Mother.

5. a woman providing care or exercising influence or authority like that of a female parent.

   The elderly widow next door was a mother to him.

6. the qualities characteristic of a mother, such as maternal affection, protectiveness, responsibility, etc..

   Sometimes the mother in her comes out and she'll remind her students to drive safely.

7. something that gives rise to something else; origin or source.

   Imagination is the mother of possibility.

8. a woman who originates or creates something.

   Marie Curie was the mother of radiography.

9. Ecclesiastical. Usually Mother a title of respect for certain female church leaders, such as heads of convents, bishops, or priests.

10. Mother, (in Neopaganism) the second form of the Goddess, represented as a mother or middle-aged woman and said to symbolize fertility and the flourishing stages of life and growth.

11. Mother, a title for something personified as an older woman.

    Mother Earth.

12. a term of familiar address for an old or elderly woman.

13. Slang. a euphemism for motherfucker.

14. Audio. (in disk recording) a mold from which stampers are made.

---

adjective

1. being a female parent.

   I watched as the mother bird fed her baby.

2. of, relating to, or characteristic of a mother.

   mother love.

3. learned or acquired from or as if from one's mother; native.

   After emigrating, he never really abandoned his mother culture.

4. bearing a relation like that of a mother, as in being the origin, source, leader, protector, etc..

   The mother company issues directives to all its affiliates.

   The server is the mother computer for the whole network.

verb (used with object)

mothers, present (3rd person singular) mothered, past participle, past mothering present participle

1. to be the mother, origin, or source of.

   She mothered two children.

2. to care for or protect like a mother; act maternally toward, sometimes in an excessive way: Stop mothering me!

   It’s in her nature to love and mother those around her.

   Stop mothering me!

   Synonyms:

   raise, mind, nurse, tend

3. to acknowledge oneself the author of; assume as one's own.

verb (used without object)

mothers, present (3rd person singular) mothered, past participle, past mothering present participle

1. to perform the tasks or duties of a female parent, sometimes in an excessive way; act maternally.

   She’s always wanted to mother.

idioms

1. mother of all, the greatest or most notable example of.

   Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap has been called the mother of all mystery novels.

mother ² American  

[muhth-er] / ˈmʌð ər /

noun

1. a stringy, mucilaginous substance consisting of various bacteria, especially Acetobacter aceti, that forms on the surface of a fermenting liquid and converts ethanol to acetic acid, as in changing wine or cider to vinegar.

---

mother ¹ British  

/ ˈmʌðə /

noun

1. 1. a female who has given birth to offspring

   2. ( as modifier )

      a mother bird

2. (often capital, esp as a term of address) a person's own mother

3. a female substituting in the function of a mother

4. archaic (often capital) a term of address for an old woman

5. 1. motherly qualities, such as maternal affection

      it appealed to the mother in her

   2. ( as modifier )

      mother love

   3. ( in combination )

      mothercraft

6. 1. a female or thing that creates, nurtures, protects, etc, something

   2. ( as modifier )

      mother church

      mother earth

7. a title given to certain members of female religious orders

   mother superior

8. Christian Science God as the eternal Principle

9. (modifier) native or innate

   mother wit

10. offensive short for motherfucker

11. to pour the tea

    I'll be mother

12. informal the greatest example of its kind

    the mother of all parties

---

verb

1. to give birth to or produce

2. to nurture, protect, etc as a mother

mother ² British  

/ ˈmʌðə /

noun

1. Also called: mother of vinegar.  a stringy slime containing various bacteria that forms on the surface of liquids undergoing acetous fermentation. It can be added to wine, cider, etc to promote vinegar formation

---

mother More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing mother

• necessity is the mother of invention

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• mothering
  noun
• motherlessness
  noun
• motherless
  adjective
• motherlike
  adjective
• mothery
  adjective
• unmothered
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• mothering
  present
• mothered
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• mother
  simple
• mothers
  simple
• have mothered
  perfect
• has mothered
  perfect
• am mothering
  progressive
• are mothering
  progressive
• is mothering
  progressive
• have been mothering
  perfect progressive
• has been mothering
  perfect progressive

Past

• mothered
  simple
• had mothered
  perfect
• was mothering
  progressive
• were mothering
  progressive
• had been mothering
  perfect progressive

Future

• will mother
  simple
• will have mothered
  perfect
• will be mothering
  progressive
• will have been mothering
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of mother¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English mother, moder, Old English mōdor; cognate with Dutch moeder, German Mutter, Old Norse mōthir; akin to Armenian mayr, Greek mḗtēr, mā́tēr, Irish máthair, Latin māter, Latvian māte, Persian mâdar, Russian mat', Sanskrit mātar-

Origin of mother²

First recorded in 1450–1500; probably special use of mother ¹, but perhaps another word, akin to Dutch modder “dregs,” Middle Low German moder “swampy land”; see mud

Explanation

A mother is a female parent: mothers nurture and mother children. It's also a term for an elderly woman or mother superior. Your mother is the woman who gave birth to you: mothers are parents, the female equivalent of a father. Besides biological mothers, there are stepmothers and adopted mothers: they all do mothering, which means taking care of children (or, sometimes, being overprotective of children). Oddly enough, a mother is also slimy substance that forms during the fermentation of wine or cider. But in any case, mothers give and sustain life.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mother mothers mothered mothering

Neill, reminiscing on mortality, said this wish was inspired by a painting he owned by Helena Bonham Carter’s mother, Elena Propper de Callejón.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

His mother taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs when he was a boy and he was later influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan.

From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026

Deep observers of his catalog also view it as his most biographical feature, citing how closely Satsuki and Mei’s bucolic retreat resembles a chapter in the filmmaker’s childhood when his own mother was gravely ill.

From Salon ● Jul. 15, 2026

She must operate a control pad to manipulate the appendages of a brain-dead coma patient and take him on a cross-country trip so his mother can say goodbye and legally pull the plug on him.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

He regarded sermons as interesting only to venerable relics like his mother and me.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

In 2025, 68% of mothers with children under six years old participated in the workforce compared with 95% of men, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

The researchers say these discoveries help fill an important gap in knowledge about women's biology and could eventually improve care for mothers, including efforts to prevent and treat postpartum depression.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026

Mũgwe wa Njũhĩ, an official of the Kikuyu cultural group Kiama Kĩa Ma, agrees male relatives of single mothers may deny the use of their name to avoid inheritance disputes.

From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026

"If we were to say how exhausting and mind-numbing it can be, then mothers might quit and then society would collapse. So, there is this tendency to walk on eggshells around these issues."

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Then the room mothers served up cupcakes with orange icing and cups of apple juice, and my classmates played games.

From "The World According to Humphrey" by Betty G. Birney

Playing a vain, pitch-perfect vision of Los Angeles’ wickedness in “Maps to the Stars,” Julianne Moore mothered so hard she almost separated California right down the San Andreas fault line.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

"She's not eating, being sick, because she mothered her," she said.

From BBC ● Apr. 13, 2025

She mothered her 7-year-old daughter, Dariela, straining to distract her from the fact that her little brother was missing.

From New York Times ● Mar. 25, 2024

And in every twist and turn of this whole thing, these two women, they mothered each other...

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 21, 2022

Davy baked and left cookies on my bed, and she always monitored my health and mothered me with homemade soup when I was sick.

From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos

Would my mothering improve before the baby was born?

From Slate ● May 10, 2026

In her new Netflix movie “Goodbye June,” she’s the one who needs mothering.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025

"I have always had a mothering instinct," she says, "but for years I had been suppressing it because it was too painful to go there."

From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2025

And it behooves city fathers and mothers to take this sentiment seriously, if they wish to keep mothering and fathering.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2024

“Oh god, you know what I mean. I sound like I’m mothering you.”

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

Related Words

• mom
• parent