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

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

Births, fertility, stillbirth and age-standardised mortality rates are all at their lowest levels since our records began.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2025

I told her it was a stillbirth baby.

From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

Numbers recorded in the official documents show there were 52 stillbirths and two miscarriages at the home, more than 40 of them during Stannard's regime.

From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026

The rate of stillbirths broadly fell between 2000 and 2020 and has since stabilised at a about four in every 1,000 births.

From BBC ● May 11, 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

Fournier reports the case of one woman that had nineteen consecutive stillbirths from syphilis.

From Essays In Pastoral Medicine by Austin ?Malley