prenatal
Americanadjective
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of prenatal
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How does prenatal compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
Use the adjective prenatal to describe something that happens prior to a baby's birth, like a special prenatal yoga class for pregnant women. The word prenatal has been around since the 1830s, mostly as a medical term to describe the state of a pregnant woman or her fetus. The word is made up of pre, "before" in Modern Latin, and natal, which comes from natus, Latin for "to be born." There are prenatal vitamins, prenatal exercise classes, and prenatal checkups — all for women who are expecting babies. Interestingly, an anagram for prenatal is parental.
Vocabulary lists containing prenatal
This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for October 22–October 28, 2022
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Florida's B.E.S.T. Common Prefixes: pre-
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Everything, Everything
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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.
All of Chelsea's prenatal tests had been normal and the family said she had no underlying health conditions.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 2026
Thorne sells supplements including creatine, prenatal vitamins, hormone supplements and other products.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026
“Our findings do not provide strong evidence that prenatal antidepressant exposure causes neurodevelopmental disorders.”
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
The researchers concluded that prenatal exposure to CPF appears to cause persistent disturbances in brain development that are proportional to the amount of exposure a child received before birth.
From Science Daily ● May 21, 2026
The only exposure of the infant mice to urethane was prenatal in these experiments, proving that the chemical must have passed through the placenta.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
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.
