miscarry
Americanverb (used without object)
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miscarries,
present (3rd person singular)
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miscarried,
past participle, past
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miscarrying
present participle
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to have a miscarriage of a fetus.
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to fail to attain the right or desired end; be unsuccessful.
The plan miscarried.
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to go astray or be lost in transit, as a letter.
verb
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to expel a fetus prematurely from the womb; abort
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to fail
all her plans miscarried
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(of freight, mail, etc) to fail to reach a destination
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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miscarrysimple
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miscarriessimple
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have miscarriedperfect
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has miscarriedperfect
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am miscarryingprogressive
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are miscarryingprogressive
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is miscarryingprogressive
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have been miscarryingperfect progressive
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has been miscarryingperfect progressive
Past
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miscarriedsimple
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had miscarriedperfect
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was miscarryingprogressive
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were miscarryingprogressive
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had been miscarryingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of miscarry
First recorded in 1275–1325, miscarry is from the Middle English word miscarien. See mis- 1, carry
Vocabulary lists containing miscarry
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.
See Examples For:
Rodriguez went on to miscarry while in custody, according to a lawsuit she filed against the federal government.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2025
Up to one in four women who know they are pregnant will miscarry, according to the National Library of Medicine.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 25, 2024
NHS England has said any of its staff who miscarry in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy can take 10 days' paid leave.
From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2024
“A lot of people successfully miscarry on their own, but that can take a couple months,” Loren said in an interview.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 5, 2024
Mom told me those types of pregnancies frequently miscarry early on, but not always.
From "We Are the Ants" by Shaun David Hutchinson
When she nearly miscarries, he convinces her to marry him and move to his company’s sponsored enclave that’s popping with pregnant women like her.
From Salon ● Oct. 18, 2026
If someone delivers or miscarries at a hospital, there are methods to dispose of remains already in place, usually mass graves.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2024
One of its most talked-about sequences came when Fleabag’s sister miscarries in a restaurant toilet cubicle.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 22, 2020
Once the life is established, can a mother insure a six-week fetus and collect if she miscarries?
From Washington Post ● May 17, 2019
"It is spoken with understanding and foresight. But how do I draw back my arm if all this miscarries?"
From "The Horse and His Boy" by C.S. Lewis
In 2008, one sister triplet was miscarried, while two of her sisters lived "for a significant amount of time", but NUH registered all three babies as miscarriages.
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
Through his remissions, they pursued fertility treatments and rounds of IVF, but miscarried each time.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
One of the women, she recalled, was about four months pregnant when she miscarried twins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025
Eventually, she began to see brown discharge and was taken to an off-site hospital where, days later, health care providers confirmed she had miscarried.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2025
I learned this only after I mentioned that I’d miscarried to a couple of friends, who responded by heaping me with love and support and also their own miscarriage stories.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
As she was miscarrying and bleeding profusely, she said physicians didn’t explain that she had options for care.
From Salon ● Jul. 2, 2025
"I was not prepared for the shock of miscarrying at work during my first pregnancy," she said.
From BBC ● Jan. 14, 2025
The standard of care is to offer miscarrying women a procedure to empty the uterus.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2024
There’s also Josseli Barnica, the 28-year-old mother of a toddler who went to the hospital miscarrying at 17 weeks pregnant.
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2024
"If they had been written there would have been no fear of their miscarrying," said she rather sulkily.
From Mr. Hogarth's Will by Catherine Helen Spence
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