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.

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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.

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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

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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

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mother More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing mother

• necessity is the mother of invention

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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

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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

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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

Ollie's dad, Alex, said daily tasks - including sleeping, eating and drinking - became "incredibly difficult", and said he and Ollie's mother were "at a loss... just watching our son deteriorate".

From BBC ● Nov. 12, 2026

Four grizzly bears have been killed in connection with a fatal attack on a mother and daughter in the Canadian province of British Columbia.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2026

Johansson, whose mother is Jewish and father is Danish, sees these stories as part of a broader interest in identity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 11, 2026

My mother, Betty Sue, was a waitress all her life, and emotionally complicated.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 10, 2026

“The mother mud dauber lays an egg or two in ever’ one of them cells.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

I also write and talk about mental health, and I’ve helped coach a number of people—friends of friends, mothers of friends, even near-strangers—through their own ECT journeys.

From Slate ● Nov. 11, 2026

But making microwave dinners for working mothers is not haute cuisine.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 9, 2026

"They're still waiting," she said, referring to the wives, mothers, daughters and sisters not yet reunited with their captured loved ones.

From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2026

She said she had received "the most heart-warming messages" from fellow mothers and praise from fathers who credited the book with helping them to understand what their partners may have been going through after birth.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Both their mothers had died in childbirth, though from the stories the other women still told, Somkit's birth had been more memorable and involved feet showing up where a head was supposed to be.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

Playing a childless, 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

"But she also knew that mother is a verb as well as a noun and mothered so many others along the way who needed love and support throughout her life," she said.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2022

Thus has it been since an ailing William Hartnell, who played the First Doctor, transformed into Patrick Troughton, Doctor Two, in 1966 — an invention mothered by necessity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2022

Nothing makes you want to be mothered quite so much as becoming a mother yourself.

From New York Times ● Feb. 1, 2022

The desert has mothered magic things before this.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

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 just really, like, I can’t imagine mothering without their help, because they’re just so in tune to each other.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2025

There’s a mothering energy that we need more than ever right now, that every single person can unleash in their communities, families and local governments, whether or not they have children.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 6, 2025

Aunt Queen could see that the child needed some serious mothering.

From "Forged by Fire" by Sharon M. Draper

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