maternal
adjective
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Definition of maternal
1 : of, relating to, belonging to, or characteristic of a mother : motherly maternal love maternal instincts
2a : related through a mother his maternal aunt
b : inherited or derived from the female parent maternal genes
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Other Words from maternal
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adverb
Examples of maternal in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Other aid areas include maternal and child health, agriculture, operating expenses, water supply and sanitation, and general health. — Laura Smith-spark, CNN, "Trump dodges questions about vulgar Africa remark," 30 Apr. 2018 For Sigler, whose maternal and paternal grandmothers both hailed from Italy, that means extruding his own spaghetti and grinding his own meatballs for pasta bowls topped with a dab of ricotta. — Michael Russell, OregonLive.com, "New Italian-American restaurant coming to longtime Pazzo space with former Renata chef at the helm," 5 Mar. 2018 The paper, which reviews separate previous studies on nutrition and obesity among women of reproductive age, notes that substantial risks for maternal and child health are associated with mothers who are underweight or overweight. — Jacqueline Howard, CNN, "How dad's pre-conception health can affect the baby, too," 16 Apr. 2018 After Kennedy won the White House, Shriver pushed her brother to create the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development which would go on to initiate life-saving research in the realms of maternal and child health. — Charisse Jones, USA TODAY, "Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of Special Olympics, stars in admiring new biography," 10 Apr. 2018 There’s little data on whether taking omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin D, and multivitamins during pregnancy substantially improves maternal and child health. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "Supplements are a $30 billion racket—here’s what experts actually recommend," 20 Feb. 2018 Lack of access to maternity leave is another risk factor for poor maternal and infant health. — Lucy Westcott, Newsweek, "Washington’s Poorest Infants Are Ten Times More Likely to Die Than Richest," 4 May 2015 African American maternal mortality rates are almost double those in Thailand. — Jenny Jarvie, latimes.com, "U.N.'s poverty monitor says U.S. is 'like the kid who takes his football and goes home'," 22 June 2018 That works out to a maternal mortality rate of 14.6 deaths per 100,000 live births. — Beth Mole, Ars Technica, "A crummy drop-down menu appeared to kill dozens of mothers in Texas," 12 Apr. 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'maternal.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Dictionary Entries near maternal
Statistics for maternal
Last Updated
11 Oct 2018
Look-up Popularity
Time Traveler for maternal
The first known use of maternal was in the 15th century
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More Definitions for maternal
maternal
adjective
English Language Learners Definition of maternal
: of or relating to a mother
: of or relating to a woman who is having a baby
: related through the mother
See the full definition for maternal in the English Language Learners Dictionary
maternal
adjective
\
Kids Definition of maternal
1 : of or relating to a mother maternal instincts
2 : related through the mother maternal grandparents
maternal
adjective
\
Medical Definition of maternal
1 : of, relating to, belonging to, or characteristic of a mother maternal instinct
2a : related through a mother his maternal aunt
b : inherited or derived from the female parent maternal genes
Other Words from maternal
\
adverb
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