Superfetate
verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 To conceive after a prior conception, but before the birth of the offspring.
"The hare, for instance, which is hunted alike by beasts, birds, and men, breeds so abundantly as even to superfetate, a thing which is true of no other animal. You find in a hare's belly, at one and the same time, some of the young all covered with fur, others quite naked, others again just fully formed in the womb, while the hare perhaps has lately conceived afresh."
- 2 conceive when a fetus is already present in the uterus wordnet
Example
More examples"The hare, for instance, which is hunted alike by beasts, birds, and men, breeds so abundantly as even to superfetate, a thing which is true of no other animal. You find in a hare's belly, at one and the same time, some of the young all covered with fur, others quite naked, others again just fully formed in the womb, while the hare perhaps has lately conceived afresh."
Etymology
From Latin superfetare, from super (“above, over”) + fetare (“to bring forth”).
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.