noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The state of being a mother; motherhood. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   the quality of having or showing the tenderness and warmth and affection of or befitting a mother wordnet
3. 3
   The state of being pregnant; pregnancy. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   the kinship relation between an offspring and the mother wordnet
5. 5
   A ward or department in a hospital in which babies are born. countable, uncountable

   "She's working in maternity this month."

Show 1 more definition

6. 6
   the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

motherhoodmotherlinesspregnancyaffiliationagnationalliance

Antonyms

All antonyms

paternity

Example

More examples

"I'm taking maternity leave from September 30th to October 14th."

Etymology

From French maternité, from Latin māternitās.

Related phrases

co-maternitymaternity bramaternity dressmaternity hospitalmaternity jeansmaternity leavematernity pillowmaternity testmaternity wearbaby leavebefore motherhoodbirth ward

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.