womb

[woom]

noun

1. the uterus of the human female and certain higher mammals.

2. the place in which anything is formed or produced.

   the womb of time.

3. the interior of anything.

4. Obsolete.,  the belly.

womb

/ wuːm /

noun

1. the nontechnical name for uterus

2. a hollow space enclosing something, esp when dark, warm, or sheltering

3. a place where something is conceived

   the Near East is the womb of western civilization

4. obsolete,  the belly

womb

1. See uterus

Other Word Forms

• wombed adjective
• unwomb verb (used with object)
• womblike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of womb¹

before 900; Middle English, Old English: belly, womb; cognate with Dutch wam, German Wamme, Gothic wamba belly; wamus

Word History and Origins

Origin of womb¹

Old English wamb; related to Old Norse vomb, Gothic wamba, Middle Low German wamme, Swedish våmm

Example Sentences

At 15, Georgia was told something no young girl expects to hear - she had been born without a womb and would never carry a child.

Read more on BBC

The babies were alike as two peas in a pod, and nestled against each other just as they had in the womb, snug in the blankets that had been knitted just for them.

Read more on Literature

In the interim, it lurks underground in stasis, almost like a fetus in the womb.

Read more on Salon

Just a week before she was due to give birth, Jacqui Hunter was given the devastating news that her daughter had died in the womb.

Read more on BBC

Williams said those irrigation methods worked in concert with nature, the exact opposite of how Los Angeles has drilled wells to extract water that Mother Earth accumulated over centuries in her “womb.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• belly 
• entrails 
• innards