stillborn

adjective

still·​born ˈstil-ˈbȯrn 

1

: dead at birth

2

: failing from the start : abortive, unsuccessful

a stillborn venture

stillborn

ˈstil-ˌbȯrn 

noun

Examples of stillborn in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their own two sons had been stillborn, and Anne and Abel, now in their 40s, wanted badly to be parents. — Amy Weiss-Meyer, The Atlantic, 10 July 2026

On Monday, June 22, the podcast host and widow of The Wanted's Tom Parker, 36, appeared on the British morning show This Morning and shared heartbreaking details about giving birth in June 2025 to her son Phoenix, who was stillborn, with her partner Will Lindsay. — Hannah Sacks, PEOPLE, 23 June 2026

Only around 2 percent of births in seventeenth-century England were stillborn due to obstruction. — Literary Hub, 16 June 2026

My wife became pregnant, and our first daughter, Anne, was stillborn. — Glenn Bostock, Forbes.com, 5 June 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1593, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for stillborn

• adorn
• airborne
• blackthorn
• broomcorn
• buckhorn
• buckthorn
• careworn
• firstborn
• foodborne
• forborne
• forewarn
• forlorn

Kids Definition

stillborn

adjective

still·​born -ˈbȯ(ə)rn 

: dead at birth

Medical Definition

stillborn

adjective

still·​born -ˈbȯ(ə)rn 

: dead at birth compare live-born

stillborn

-ˌbȯ(ə)rn 

noun