birth

play

noun, often attributive \ ˈbərth \

Definition of birth

1 a :the emergence of a new individual from the body of its parent

b :the act or process of bringing forth young from the womb

2 :a state resulting from being born especially at a particular time or place

a Southerner by birth

3 a :lineage, extraction

b :high or noble birth

4 a archaic :one that is born

b :beginning, start

See birth defined for English-language learners

See birth defined for kids

Examples of birth in a Sentence

He was present at the birth of his daughter.
The hospital reported an increase in premature births.
Please indicate your date of birth.
the period from birth to adolescence
a disease that is present at birth
the birth of the solar system
the birth of the blues
We are witnessing the birth of a new era.

Recent Examples of birth from the Web

Zach talked to Stuart Turner about his time in Louisiana for the birth of his son.

— c. trent rosecrans, Cincinnati.com, "BAR: Reds Beat Podcast on pinch-runners and white walkers," 30 Aug. 2017
As of Saturday evening, five Memorial Hermann hospitals had experienced an uptick in the number of births in the week leading up to Harvey.

— maggie mallon, Glamour, "Do Hurricanes Actually Cause Women to Go Into Labor? Here's What Experts Have to Say," 30 Aug. 2017
The forms may have included people's names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, health insurance numbers and information about health conditions, if people typed that into the forms.

— lisa schencker, chicagotribune.com, "Silver Cross Hospital breach may have exposed personal data of nearly 9,000 patients," 29 Aug. 2017
Date of birth aside, another sign to look for in aged tires is weather checking, also known as dry rot.

— david muller, Car and Driver, "Shopping for a Used Car? Keep in Mind That Tires Age, and Not Like Fine Wine," 28 Aug. 2017
Port gave birth to her first child — a boy named Sonny — with husband and former Hills producer Tim Rosenman in late July.

— katie van syckle, The Cut, "Whitney Port Does Not Like Breastfeeding," 26 Aug. 2017
Skin bummer: Melasma This hormonal imbalance (often caused by taking birth control pills) results in brown spots on your forehead, cheeks, or above your top lip.

— nicole catanese, Cosmopolitan, "The 8 Most Annoying Skin Problems Every Girl Deals With," 24 Aug. 2017
Birth rates have also fallen dramatically, likely because of a decline in copepod populations and because entanglements have stressed females.

— erik stokstad, Science | AAAS, "Endangered right whales are dying in record numbers off Canada, raising alarm," 24 Aug. 2017
Giving birth to quadruplet sons is rare enough, but one Ohio mother has the bittersweet honor of seeing all of them leave home to attend Yale together this fall.

— malaika jabali, Essence.com, "Black Excellence: These Quadruplet Brothers Are All Headed To Yale This Fall," 22 Aug. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'birth.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of birth

Middle English, from Old Norse byrth; akin to Old English beran

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 13th century

See Words from the same year

birth Synonyms

Synonyms

geniture, nativity

Antonyms

issue, posterity, progeny, seed

Related Words

creation, genesis, nascency, origination, rise; accouchement, bearing, childbearing, labor, parturition; begetting, breeding, fathering, generation, mothering, parenting, reproduction, siring, spawning; fatherhood, maternity, motherhood, parenthood, paternity

Near Antonyms

abortion, miscarriage; stillbirth

Other Embryology Terms

gravid, neonate, ontogeny, parturition

birth

verb

Definition of birth

transitive verb

1 chiefly dialectal :to bring forth

2 a :to give rise to :originate

b :to give birth to

intransitive verb

:to bring forth or be brought forth as a child or young

Examples of birth in a Sentence

back in those days a woman her age would have birthed several children

Recent Examples of birth from the Web

All those anti-discrimination laws and equal-access programs now at risk birthed a generation of women whose sense of self and priorities are radically different from any before.

— sherri daye scott, chicagotribune.com, "Girl power has lifted up women but failed men," 29 Aug. 2017
Not only will the iconic building itself be re-birthed, but also the way county government services are provided.

— melissa reinert, Cincinnati.com, "Demolition for Kenton's Bavarian project expected by Oct. 1," 11 Aug. 2017
Those numbers would be insanely high for any beauty brand, but especially one that was birthed on the Internet from a 19-year-old (albeit a super-visible one, but still).

— rachel nussbaum, Glamour, "Kylie Jenner Is Rolling in Cash Because of Kylie Cosmetics," 9 Aug. 2017
Along this route, nine distinct musical genres were birthed out of the culture clash found along the dirt roads of Dixie.

— birmingham magazine, AL.com, "Trace the history of music in the South on the Americana Music Trail," 1 Aug. 2017
And Trumpcare was dying from the complications of its preexisting conditions from the day Paul Ryan birthed it.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "Donald Trump Is a Victim of Congressional Republicans’ Incompetence," 19 July 2017
And that brings up the strangest point of all — that CAP’s report skips past all of the social programs that the Left has long championed that have been instrumental in birthing the contemporary notion of vouchers, in education and elsewhere.

— frederick m. hess, National Review, "CAP’s Misleading, Historically Inaccurate Report on the Racist ‘Origin’ of School Vouchers," 17 July 2017
One of history’s ironies is that, even though New England birthed the abolition movement, many of Boston’s most prominent families offered less than total support for freeing the slaves.

— john steele gordon, WSJ, "Enterprising Bostonians," 25 June 2017
The incident birthed a prolonged squabble brokered by lawyers, culminating in Scott delivering an apology to Santa Cruz' parent company, NHS Inc., and agreeing to destroy the infringing garments.

— sam blum, Esquire, "How Skateboarding Became a High-Fashion Obsession," 9 June 2017

First Known Use of birth

1831

birth Synonyms

Synonyms

bear [chiefly dialect], deliver, drop, have, mother, produce

Related Words

labor; breed, multiply, propagate, reproduce, spawn; beget, father, generate, get, sire; calve, kid, kindle, kitten, litter, pup, whelp

Near Antonyms

abort, lose, miscarry

birth

adjective

Definition of birth

:biological 3

his birth mother

Examples of birth in a Sentence

argued that the birth mother had not been informed of all of her options at the time of the adoption

Recent Examples of birth from the Web

Birth place of the surf industry City officials in November voted to approve plans for two plazas and a sculpture to promote Dana Point as the birthplace of the surf industry.

— erika i. ritchie, Orange County Register, "Dana Point’s top stories in 2016," 3 Jan. 2017

First Known Use of birth

1958

birth Synonyms

Synonyms

biological (also biologic), natural, consanguineous

Antonyms

adopted, adoptive, nonbiological

Related Words

legitimate

Near Antonyms

illegitimate

Other Medicine Terms

analgesia, angina, diabetes, hepatitis, homeopathy, logorrhea, palliate, pandemic

BIRTH Defined for English Language Learners

birth

play

noun

Definition of birth for English Language Learners

: the time when a baby comes out from the body of its mother
: the beginning or origin of something
—used to describe the kind of family a person comes from

BIRTH Defined for Kids

birth

play

noun \ ˈbərth \

Definition of birth for Students

1 :the coming of a new individual from the body of its parent

2 :the act of bringing into life

3 :lineage 1

a person of noble birth

4 :origin 3

the birth of a star

Medical Dictionary

birth

play

noun \ ˈbərth \

medical Definition of birth

1 :the emergence of a new individual from the body of its parent

2 :the act or process of bringing forth young from the womb

birth

transitive verb

medical Definition of birth

:to give birth to

allowed to birth her child in her own way
—Nancy Robinson

intransitive verb

:to bring forth or be brought forth as a child or young

contend that birthing is a natural process, rather than a medical procedure
—Kit Miniclier

the baby birthed breech
—Jayne Anne Phillips

birth

adjective

medical Definition of birth

:biological 3

spent years searching for his birth parents

Learn More about birth

See words that rhyme with birth Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for birth Spanish Central: Translation of birth Nglish: Translation of birth for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of birth for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about birth

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birth

Definition of birth

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birth Synonyms

Synonyms

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birth

Definition of birth

Examples of birth in a Sentence

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First Known Use of birth

birth Synonyms

Synonyms

Antonyms

Related Words

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BIRTH Defined for English Language Learners

birth

Definition of birth for English Language Learners

BIRTH Defined for Kids

birth

Definition of birth for Students

Medical Dictionary

birth

medical Definition of birth

birth

medical Definition of birth

birth

medical Definition of birth

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