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

… thou art the midwife to my woe …

—William Shakespeare

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

The month has midwifed all manner of creative genius …

—Steve Rushin

Examples of midwife in a Sentence

Noun

a trained and certified midwife

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

The program, was explicitly conceived to help midwife DAC in the US and the rest of the world. —Literary Hub, 5 Nov. 2025

And while advanced practice nurses like nurse practitioners and midwives have been pushing for decades to get the law changed in Missouri, there’s been almost no momentum in the state legislature. —Meg Cunningham, Kansas City Star, 30 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