surrogate mother

noun

1

a

: a woman who becomes pregnant by artificial insemination or by implantation of a fertilized egg created by in vitro fertilization for the purpose of carrying the fetus to term for another person or persons

Live births by surrogate mothers were up more than 160 percent from 2004 to 2013, to 1,939, according to the American Society for Reproductive Medicine.

—Michael Ollove

A surrogate mother has given birth to quadruplets, who will be raised by their natural father and his male domestic partner.

—Associated Press

Evidence suggests that US military wives are increasingly targeted as desirable surrogate mothers; they are generally low to-middle-income, stay-at-home mothers with high-quality, government-sponsored health care and few employment options of their own …

—Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz

b

: a female animal that is impregnated (as by embryo transfer or artificial insemination) in order to bear young in place of another animal

Farmers administer fertility drugs to prize cows and then artificially inseminate them. A week later, experts flush out fertilized embryos and freeze them until they're sold for implantation in surrogate mothers.

—Janet Raloff

The mare was only a surrogate mother; the zebra embryo, fertilized normally a year ago Wednesday, was implanted in the mare's womb last May by Dr. Bill Foster …. This was the first known instance of a horse giving birth to a full-blooded zebra, according to zoo officials.

—The New York Times

2

: one who acts or serves as a substitute mother

In Gimme a Break! in the early 1980s, Nell Carter played a live-in housekeeper to a widowed white police officer (Dolph Sweet), and became essentially a surrogate mother to his children.

—John McWhorter

Typically, Nick managed to attract the sympathy of a surrogate mother—albeit a crusty one. When he showed up on the Solution set an hour late, [Katherine] Hepburn … gave him a lecture.

—Michelle Green

Part of the credit for their success goes to a large stuffed Snoopy dog, which became the young chick's surrogate mother, says Frank Todd, corporate curator of birds at Sea World. Emperor chicks in the wild nestle on the feet of their mothers, and researchers had reasoned that the toy animal would provide similar security.

—National Wildlife

surrogate motherhood noun

Advocates of surrogate motherhood say that private arrangements between individuals are part of a guaranteed right to bear children without interference from the state.

—Curtis J. Sitomer

Examples of surrogate mother in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Jameela, the first baby gorilla born by Cesarean section at the Fort Worth Zoo, still needs a surrogate mother after surrogacy training with 24-year-old Gracie stalled, zoo staff said in a social media update Tuesday. —Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7 Mar. 2024

Jameela, the first baby gorilla born by Cesarean section at the Fort Worth Zoo, is successfully bonding with a surrogate mother at her new facility, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo announced Wednesday. —Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Apr. 2024

Adam Stafford King and his husband were expecting a child through a surrogate mother in California around Friday, March 29. —Kate Linderman, Kansas City Star, 26 Mar. 2024

Instead, the couple turned to a surrogate mother to conceive their second child, a son who is now 19. —Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY, 10 Jan. 2024

Of these surrogate mother monkeys, 12 became pregnant, and 6 gave birth to live young. —Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Nov. 2023

In the end, the show turns to sentiment to keep our hummingbird brains engaged: Ljuba pivots without warning from iron lady to surrogate mother. —Helen Shaw, The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2024

The team retrieved sperm from a southern white rhino in Austria, collected egg cells from a southern white rhino in Belgium, fertilized the samples in vitro in Italy and finally transferred the two embryos to the surrogate mother in Kenya, according to CNN. —Catherine Duncan, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Jan. 2024

The embryo was transferred into a southern white rhino surrogate mother at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya on Sept. 24, 2023. —Ingrid Vasquez, Peoplemag, 24 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Medical Definition

surrogate mother

noun

: a woman who becomes pregnant by artificial insemination or by implantation of a fertilized egg created by in vitro fertilization for the purpose of carrying the fetus to term for another person or persons

surrogate motherhood noun

Legal Definition

surrogate mother

noun

surrogate moth·​er

: a woman who becomes pregnant usually by artificial insemination or surgical implantation of a fertilized egg for the purpose of carrying the fetus to term for another woman

surrogate motherhood noun