plural doulas
: a person trained to provide advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth
Research shows that childbirth does go more smoothly with a doula: labor is 25 percent shorter, the need for epidural pain relief is 60 percent less and the Caesarean section rate is reduced by half.—
Susan Gilbert
Susan GilbertExamples of doula in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
All items are made from scratch under the direction of executive chef Jeremy Armstrong, who co-owns the business with postpartum doula Jessica Wilson.
—Erin Bunch, Bon Appetit Magazine, 9 Oct. 2025
Ezra is a doula who can see ghosts, and Jonathan is a widower mourning his late husband, Ben, who Ezra can inexplicably both see and hear, even though that definitely breaks ghost rules.
—Audrey Goldberg Ruoff, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025
Now deep into season two, Folb says the show has tapped into a death doula’s expertise for an upcoming storyline.
—Ingrid Schmidt, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
Watch him discuss potentially becoming a death doula in the clip above.
—Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for doula
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Erin Bunch, Bon Appetit Magazine, 9 Oct. 2025
Ezra is a doula who can see ghosts, and Jonathan is a widower mourning his late husband, Ben, who Ezra can inexplicably both see and hear, even though that definitely breaks ghost rules.
—Audrey Goldberg Ruoff, PEOPLE, 27 Sep. 2025
Now deep into season two, Folb says the show has tapped into a death doula’s expertise for an upcoming storyline.
—Ingrid Schmidt, HollywoodReporter, 8 Sep. 2025
Watch him discuss potentially becoming a death doula in the clip above.
—Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly, 4 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for doula
Cite this Entry
“Doula.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doula. Accessed 17 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationMedical Definition
doula
noun
dou·la
ˈdü-lə 
: a woman experienced in childbirth who provides advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share