birth
Americannoun
-
births
plural
-
an act or instance of being born.
the day of his birth.
-
the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring; childbirth; parturition.
a difficult birth.
-
lineage; extraction; descent.
of Grecian birth.
-
high or noble lineage.
to be foolishly vain about one's birth.
-
natural heritage.
a musician by birth.
-
any coming into existence; origin; beginning.
the birth of Protestantism; the birth of an idea.
- Synonyms:
- inauguration, genesis, inception, commencement, start
-
Archaic. something that is born.
verb (used with object)
-
births,
present (3rd person singular)
-
birthed,
past participle, past
-
birthing
present participle
-
to give birth to.
-
to assist in giving birth; act as midwife for.
idioms
noun
-
the process of bearing young; parturition; childbirth
-
the act or fact of being born; nativity
-
the coming into existence of something; origin
-
ancestry; lineage
of high birth
-
noble ancestry
a man of birth
-
natural or inherited talent
an artist by birth
-
archaic the offspring or young born at a particular time or of a particular mother
-
-
to bear (offspring)
-
to produce, originate, or create (an idea, plan, etc)
-
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
birthsimple
-
birthssimple
-
have birthedperfect
-
has birthedperfect
-
am birthingprogressive
-
are birthingprogressive
-
is birthingprogressive
-
have been birthingperfect progressive
-
has been birthingperfect progressive
Past
-
birthedsimple
-
had birthedperfect
-
was birthingprogressive
-
were birthingprogressive
-
had been birthingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of birth
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English byrthe, from Scandinavian; compare Old Swedish byrth; cognate with Old English gebyrd, Old High German giburt, Gothic gabaurths; cf. bear 1 ( def. ), -th 1 ( def. )
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:
The Times reached out to the actor’s representatives for details including the birth date and gender of the child but did not hear back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
The artist known as Soavé, who sang the hypnotic 1989 hit “Crying Over You,” revealed to music magazine Wax Poetics in 2010 that his birth name, which is Jeffrey Martinez, “wouldn’t have sold a record.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
Every woman will have a designated midwife when they register for birth, while the ambulance service will be able to triage women to Craigavon Hospital or elsewhere as appropriate.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
That marks a sharp contrast with the open generational warfare that characterized the birth of rock ‘n’ roll.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
“All right, well…let’s talk about your father. We pulled your birth certificate. No father was named.”
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
“Said the Dead” is, among other things, Lucia’s biography, gleaned from letters, accounts of marriages, births and deaths, and reports of her pioneering work in psychiatry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Today’s kindergarten enrollment declines reflect the “missing” births of five to six years earlier.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
Other families are concerned about how Craigavon will cope with the additional births.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
The trust has been asked how Craigavon will manage approximately 1,400 additional births each year if inpatient maternity services move from Daisy Hill.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
It was a year like so many others, with its spring, its engagements, its weddings, and its births.
From "Night" by Elie Wiesel
But notice this is already different from the science-fiction fears birthed before AI was a real thing, when simple premises permitted so many startling conclusions.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026
There’s a strange irony to this age of relentless self-filming: It’s birthed a devaluing of openness.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
But as Caulfield noted, the wellness movement has undergone a major cultural change in the past half-decade that has made it almost unrecognizable from the movement that birthed MAHA.
From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026
Sociology is in many ways the mother of all social sciences, she who hath birthed dozens of disciplines ranging from criminology to postcolonial studies to ethnic studies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
He signed death certificates and birthed all the babies except for the Tarbox family, who had an annual baby and no way to pay.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
Zika can spread from a birthing parent to their child in the womb and cause congenital disabilities, which notoriously led to panic after an outbreak erupted in Brazil in 2015.
From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026
Like the spine, the human pelvis must balance two competing demands: efficient bipedal walking and birthing large-brained infants.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 11, 2026
This included an empty can of energy drink left in the middle of the floor of a clean delivery room - as well as butter "smeared around the top of a birthing pool".
From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026
It’s got a birthing scene like no other.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 1, 2026
The problem with the sheep was that in the shock and pain of birthing, if she was left in the herd, she would often lose track of her lamb and the lamb would die.
From This Side of Wild by Gary Paulsen
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
