prenatal

[ pree-neyt-l ]

adjective

1. previous to birth or to giving birth:

   prenatal care for mothers.

prenatal

/ priːˈneɪtəl /

adjective

1. occurring or present before birth; during pregnancy

noun

1. informal.
   a prenatal examination

prenatal

1. A descriptive term for the period between conception and birth.

Derived Forms

• preˈnatally, adverb

Other Words From

• pre·natal·ly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of prenatal¹

First recorded in 1820–30; pre- + natal

Example Sentences

The “heart sisters” are circulating an online petition demanding that the BNP test become a mandatory prenatal screening.

From Popular-Science

Firat most recently led Hummingbird’s first investments in engineering biology, investing in Billiontoone, the SF-based precision diagnostics company in the prenatal and liquid biopsy space, which has raised a $55M Series B round.

From TechCrunch

Experts say that access to vaccines and prenatal care is crucial to keeping both mothers and babies healthy—especially because Brazil’s fight with the coronavirus doesn’t seem likely to be slowing down anytime soon.

From MIT Technology Review

Products offered in retail include easy-to-use ovulation and pregnancy tests and prenatal supplements.

From Essence.com

This landmark legislation funded maternal and infant health-care centers, supported prenatal care and education and significantly reduced infant mortality, especially in rural areas.

From Washington Post

Per their research, most of the evidence points toward prenatal factors in developing autism.

From The Daily Beast

In the case of a falsely reassuring prenatal test, there are two possibilities for a lawsuit against a health practitioner.

From The Daily Beast

This is the problem facing the Halls and anyone else who receives a falsely reassuring result on a prenatal test.

From The Daily Beast

The evidence does not prove that infants exposed to SSRIs that develop autism do so because of that prenatal exposure.

From The Daily Beast

Then, at our last (9 months) prenatal visit, we heard no heartbeat.

From The Daily Beast

She says that with such a prenatal experience perhaps death was the best for him.

From Project Gutenberg

It is largely constitutional weakness, or prenatal predilection, or the idiosyncrasy of individuality.

From Project Gutenberg

Its tiny body is a concourse of physical atoms with a prenatal history of a few months.

From Project Gutenberg

Once cleft palates were frequent—prenatal nutritional deficiencies or traumas.

From Project Gutenberg

The prenatal influences for those months gave the sort of man God wanted.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fetal