birth mother

noun

: the mother of a child when the child is born

specifically : a woman who gave birth to a child who has been adopted

They had turned to an open adoption after pursuing infertility treatments for 18 years, and the birth mother had agreed to relinquish custody at the hospital.

—Emily Nussbaum

Examples of birth mother in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And, again, there is no evidence that El-Sayed's birth mother's work was in any way tied to El-Sayed. — Todd Spangler, Freep.com, 10 Sep. 2026

Chelsea, whom the actress adopted as a baby with her then-wife Kelli Carpenter, ran away from home at 17 and later moved to Wisconsin to live with her birth mother. — Kathleen Perricone, Entertainment Weekly, 28 Aug. 2026

After traveling to Texas, West asked a Dallas court to recognize her parental rights as the birth mother. — Emily Hallas, The Washington Examiner, 18 Aug. 2026

The show ends with Connor and Annie’s birth mother wanting to get in touch with him. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 5 Aug. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1906, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for birth mother

• another
• godmother
• grandmother
• stepbrother
• stepmother
• brother
• nother
• other
• smother
• souther

Legal Definition

birth mother

noun

birth moth·​er

: the woman who gave birth to a child especially as distinguished from the child's adoptive mother