surrogate mother

American  

noun

1. a person who acts in the place of another person's biological mother.

2. an animal that is given another's offspring to raise.

3. Medicine/Medical. a woman who helps a couple to have a child by carrying to term an embryo conceived by the couple and transferred to her uterus, or by being inseminated with the man's sperm and either donating the embryo for transfer to the woman's uterus or carrying it to term.

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surrogate mother British  

/ ˈsʌrəɡəsɪ /

noun

1. a woman who bears a child on behalf of a couple unable to have a child, either by artificial insemination from the man or implantation of an embryo from the woman

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Other Word Forms

• surrogacy noun

Etymology

Origin of surrogate mother

First recorded in 1975–80

Example Sentences

So being a single father by choice is a rarer phenomenon, and doing so via gestational surrogacy, in which the surrogate mother bears no genetic link to the child she carries, is rarer yet.

From Slate • Feb. 23, 2026

Owner Margarita Xatruch not only cooks for her customers, but also acts as a surrogate mother of sorts.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 17, 2025

One baby ransacked her belongings, another clung to her for months as a surrogate mother.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025

He says it was inspired by his trips to and from a palliative care home to visit his friend and mentor, Annie Orwin, who he's described as being like "a surrogate mother" to him.

From BBC • Feb. 16, 2025

Next to the dead surrogate mother was a young bonobo.

From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer