midwife

1 of 2

noun

mid·​wife ˈmid-ˌwīf 

1

: a person who assists women in childbirth compare nurse-midwife

2

: one that helps to produce or bring forth something

midwife

2 of 2

verb

midwifed ˈmid-ˌwīft  or midwived ˈmid-ˌwīvd  ; midwifing ˈmid-ˌwī-fiŋ  or midwiving ˈmid-ˌwī-viŋ 

transitive verb

: to assist in producing, bringing forth, or bringing about

Examples of midwife in a Sentence

Noun

a trained and certified midwife

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Anesthetists, midwives and other health care workers picketed outside Kaiser Permanente’s hospital in Roseville, Tuesday morning, joining a smattering of union chapters in California, Oregon and Hawaii in a five-day strike. —Sacbee.com, 14 Oct. 2025

Pharmacists, midwives and other health professionals at the Kaiser hospitals would participate in the strike. —Grant Stringer, Mercury News, 14 Oct. 2025

Verb

But the American leaders who midwifed the UN as World War II was still raging were somber realists, not utopians. —Andreas Kluth, Mercury News, 26 Sep. 2025

At the summit, Putin also sought to revive the Russia-India-China trilateral forum, that, in an earlier era, helped midwife BRICS and the SCO and gave China, India, and Russia an arena to coordinate on multilateralism and trade. —Shyam Saran, Time, 10 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English midwif, from mid with (from Old English) + wif woman

First Known Use

Noun

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

1638, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing midwife

• nurse-midwife

Rhymes for midwife

• alewife
• birdlife
• folklife
• housewife
• jackknife
• loosestrife
• midlife
• nightlife
• penknife
• wildlife
• afterlife
• pocketknife

Kids Definition

midwife

noun

mid·​wife

ˈmid-ˌwīf

: a woman who helps other women in childbirth

Medical Definition

midwife

noun

mid·​wife ˈmid-ˌwīf 

: a person who assists women in childbirth see nurse-midwife