stillbirth

American  

[stil-burth] / ˈstɪlˌbɜrθ /

noun

stillbirths plural

1. the birth of a dead child or organism.

2. a fetus dead at birth.

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stillbirth British  

/ ˈstɪlˌbɜːθ /

noun

1. birth of a dead fetus or baby

2. a stillborn fetus or baby

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stillbirth Cultural  

1. The birth of a fetus that has died; particularly, birth of a fetus that has died in the uterus at a stage in development when an infant could survive on its own if born healthy.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• stillbirths
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stillbirth

First recorded in 1745–55; still ¹ + birth

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stillbirth stillbirths

The couple had their legal case against the trust settled out of court for £2.8m, believed to be the largest payout for a stillbirth clinical negligence case.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

She compared the pain she endured to the grief she felt after experiencing a stillbirth.

From Slate ● Jan. 30, 2026

She’s twice turned to nonfiction, first for a 2008 memoir of stillbirth and parenthood, now for “A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026

In Northern Ireland, the death of a baby after 24 weeks is officially recorded as a stillbirth but there is no formal recognition of loss before 24 weeks, as there is in England.

From BBC ● Dec. 3, 2025

They were certain it would be another stillbirth and they reasoned that the less said about it, the less Sissy would have to remember afterward.

From "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" by Betty Smith

The World Health Organisation said that when midwives were educated to international standards — and when midwifery includes family planning — they could prevent more than 80% of maternal deaths, stillbirths, and neonatal deaths.

From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026

Online sleuthing leads Evy and Justin to a demonic creature that causes miscarriages and stillbirths: Abyzou, the bitter spirit of an infertile woman who visits chaos upon other pregnancies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026

In 1985, more than three dozen deaths in California — including stillbirths and fetuses lost to miscarriage – were blamed on listeriosis from soft cheeses produced by an Artesia company named Jalisco Mexican Products.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026

In 2015, the then-Conservative government announced an ambition to halve the rate of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths in England by 2030 – later brought forward to 2025.

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2026

Dr. Gibbons then quoted figures given by Douglas Wight and Amand Routh to show the high percentage of abortions and stillbirths.

From Birth Control A Statement of Christian Doctrine against the Neo-Malthusians by Sutherland, Halliday G.