birth

[ burth ]

/ bɜrθ /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR birth ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an act or instance of being born: the day of his birth.

the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring; childbirth; parturition: a difficult birth.

lineage; extraction; descent: of Grecian birth.

high or noble lineage: to be foolishly vain about one's birth.

natural heritage: a musician by birth.

any coming into existence; origin; beginning: the birth of Protestantism; the birth of an idea.

Archaic. something that is born.

verb (used with object) Chiefly South Midland and Southern U.S.

to give birth to.

to assist in giving birth; act as midwife for.

Idioms for birth

give birth to,

to bear (a child).
to initiate; originate: Her hobby gave birth to a successful business.

Origin of birth

1150–1200; Middle English byrthe < Scandinavian; compare Old Swedish byrth; cognate with Old English gebyrd, Old High German giburt, Gothic gabaurths

SYNONYMS FOR birth

3 parentage, ancestry, line, blood, family.

6 start, commencement, inception, genesis; launching, inauguration.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR birth ON THESAURUS.COM

OTHER WORDS FROM birth

mul·ti·birth, noun

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH birth

berth birth

Words nearby birth

birota, birr, birretta, birrus, birse, birth, birth canal, birth certificate, birth control, birth control pill, birth date

Example sentences from the Web for birth

Indeed, every teacher is expected to be a Muslim by birth or conversion.

Houellebecq’s Incendiary Novel Imagines France With a Muslim President |Pierre Assouline |January 9, 2015 |DAILY BEAST
Women are more likely to recover sooner from birth and less likely to experience post-partum depression.

How Good Dads Can Change the World |Gary Barker, PhD, Michael Kaufman |January 6, 2015 |DAILY BEAST
Advanced maternal age dramatically increases the risk of maternal mortality as well as birth defects like Down Syndrome.

Men Will Someday Have Kids Without Women |Samantha Allen |January 3, 2015 |DAILY BEAST
Nothing much to use in cleaning up the baby and his mother after the birth, no place to dispose of the placenta.

Jesus Wasn’t Born Rich. Think About It. |Gene Robinson |December 25, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

A Spaniard by birth, Victor Serna left home shy of his 14th birthday and entered the monastery to become a Marist brother.

Obama’s One Hand Clap With Castro |Doug McIntyre |December 24, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
At last he said: "There has been something worm-eaten in you from your birth."

Ghosts |Henrik Ibsen
His childhood and his youth may be considered from his birth till forty years of age.

The Digger Movement in the Days of the Commonwealth |Lewis H. Berens
But the pride of birth and blood is common to all nations, perhaps less so in England than elsewhere.

The Mother of Parliaments |Harry Graham
Only the strongest have been able to survive the ordeals of birth and childhood.

Life on a Mediaeval Barony |William Stearns Davis
Most of its members were nominated at birth or in childhood and elected as soon as they were twenty-one.

The Grain Of Dust |David Graham Phillips

British Dictionary definitions for birth

birth

/ (bɜːθ) /

noun

the process of bearing young; parturition; childbirth Related adjective: natal

the act or fact of being born; nativity

the coming into existence of something; origin

ancestry; lineage of high birth

noble ancestry a man of birth

natural or inherited talent an artist by birth

archaic the offspring or young born at a particular time or of a particular mother

give birth

to bear (offspring)
to produce, originate, or create (an idea, plan, etc)

verb (tr) rare

to bear or bring forth (a child)

Word Origin for birth

C12: from Old Norse byrth; related to Gothic gabaurths, Old Swedish byrdh, Old High German berd child; see bear 1, bairn

Medical definitions for birth

birth

[ bûrth ]

n.

The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of the mother.

The act or process of bearing young; parturition.

The circumstances or conditions relating to this event, as its time or location.

The set of characteristics or circumstances received from one's ancestors; inheritance.

Origin; extraction.

Scientific definitions for birth

birth

[ bûrth ]

Noun

The emergence and separation of offspring from the body of its mother, seen in all mammals except monotremes.

Adjective

Present at birth, as a defect in a bodily structure.

Idioms and Phrases with birth

birth

see give birth to.

BROWSE DICTIONARY

Learning

birth

noun