rhythm method

American  

noun

1. a method of birth control in which the couple abstain from sexual intercourse during the period when ovulation is most likely to occur.

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rhythm method British  

noun

1. a method of controlling conception without the aid of a contraceptive device, by restricting sexual intercourse to those days in a woman's menstrual cycle on which conception is considered least likely to occur See also safe period

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Etymology

Origin of rhythm method

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

District Court Judge Jeremy D. Kernodle granted Friday a request for a temporary restraining order from Cami Jo Tice-Harouff, a Texas nurse practitioner who specializes in fertility-awareness contraception, sometimes referred to as the rhythm method.

From Washington Times • Aug. 15, 2022

The symptothermal method should not be confused with the rhythm method or similar counting techniques.

From Scientific American • May 16, 2019

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts the failure rate for fertility awareness methods at 24 percent—but that calculation lumps the rhythm method together with other, more effective fertility awareness methods.

From Slate • Sep. 19, 2018

By contrast, the rhythm method relies on recording the length of past menstrual cycles to determine one’s fertile window.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 24, 2018

There were methods of birth control before the pill, of course—condoms, diaphragms, the rhythm method, and, before those, an ingenious trail of desperate measures traceable as far back as ancient Egypt.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 11, 2014

Related Words

• abstinence
• condom
• contraceptive
• diaphragm
• family planning
• pill
• vasectomy