surrogacy
Americannoun
-
surrogacies
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of surrogacy
First recorded in 1810–20
Explanation
Surrogacy is the act of taking the place of another person, particularly by agreeing to give birth to a baby on behalf of someone else. Along with adoption, surrogacy is one of the ways people who can't become pregnant and carry a baby themselves are able to become parents. A surrogate is paid to fill the pregnancy role, and after the birth, the child is raised by the person or couple who hired the surrogate. The Latin root of surrogacy is surrogatus, "put in another's place."
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:
In practice, these clauses don’t capture the complexity of surrogacy dynamics.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
State laws on the subject vary considerably, with some prohibiting commercial surrogacy and others liberally permitting it and even issuing parentage orders before birth.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
Zhou also paid close to $10,000 to surrogacy attorney Lei Bai to prepare his contract with Simpson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
Other EU countries including France, Spain and Italy also ban surrogacy, which involves a woman carrying a baby and giving birth on behalf of parents unable to have children themselves.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Merz on Friday said he saw "no need to change" Germany's ban on surrogacy or his party's clear opposition to it.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
The group has been discussing ways to more proactively detect when parents are pursuing multiple simultaneous surrogacies across different agencies without violating patient privacy laws, she said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 14, 2025
Besides expenses related to pregnancy terminations, Mastercard will also cover surrogacies, adoption services, vasectomies and access to contraception, the memo said.
From Reuters ● May 18, 2022
The agency that Emma and Svetlana are using is small - it is currently managing nine surrogacies - but Ukraine's biggest agency currently has 500 surrogates at different stages of pregnancy.
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2022
A week later, we finally got the news: in future, foreigners caught organising surrogacies in Thailand would face 10 years in prison, but any current arrangements could go ahead; those involved would not face charges.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 28, 2020
When governments began imposing travel bans, no one foresaw the consequences for families created with the help of surrogates, said Nidhi Desai, a Chicago lawyer who specializes in international adoptions and surrogacies.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 16, 2020
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
