pregnant
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɹɛɡnənt/
rhymes: -ɛɡnənt
Forms: form: more pregnant
form: most pregnant
form: prægnant
form: pregnaunt
Etymology: From Middle English preignant, from Old French preignant, pregnant, also prenant (compare archaic Modern French prégnant), and their source, Latin praegnāns (“pregnant”), probably from prae- (“pre-”) + *gnāscī, an archaic form of nāscī (“to be born”). Displaced Old English bearnēacen (literally "child-enlarged").
Senses: examples: text: I went to the doctor and, guess what, I’m five weeks pregnant!
text: I became pregnant in July 2014.
text: Once upon a time, not so long ago, women got pregnant and spent nine months in suspense before finding out if they were having a boy or a girl. But today? That waiting game is completely outdated, even quaint.
ref: 2017 July 13, Bonnie Rochman, “Mothers-To-Be Aren’t Told Enough About Genetic Testing”, in Time:
text: It suggests that pregnant women should be called pregnant people, presumably on the basis that just perhaps there may be a pregnant man somewhere.
ref: 2025 February 19, Christian Wolmar, “Mind your language...”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 34:
glosses: Carrying developing offspring within the body.
examples: text: We are pregnant.
glosses: Carrying developing offspring within the body.
Of a couple: expecting a baby together.
examples: text: a pregnant pause
text: wherein the pregnant enemy does much
ref: c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
text: The many tear-jerkers deal with finality, with death and the end of love, with a stoicism pregnant with feeling.
ref: 2019 January 26, Kitty Empire [pseudonym], “The Streets review – the agony and ecstasy of a great everyman”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 08 Apr 2019:
glosses: Meaningful, having numerous possibilities or implications; full of promise; abounding in ability, resources, etc.
examples: text: The sunne-beames bright vpon her body playd, / Being through former bathing mollifide, / And pierst into her wombe, where they embayd / With so sweet sence and secret power vnspide, / That in her pregnant flesh they shortly fructifide.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
glosses: Fecund, fertile, prolific (usually of soil, ground, etc.).
examples: text: play at subtill games; faire vertues all;
To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant
ref: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv]:
glosses: Affording entrance; receptive; yielding; willing; open; prompt.
glosses: Ready-witted; clever; ingenious.
Synonyms: sense: carrying offspring (standard)
word: expecting
sense: carrying offspring (standard)
word: expecting a baby
sense: carrying offspring (standard)
word: expectant
sense: carrying offspring (standard)
english: of animals only
translation: of animals only
word: gravid
sense: carrying offspring (standard)
word: with child
sense: carrying offspring (standard)
word: fertilized
sense: carrying offspring (standard)
english: for a particular number of months
translation: for a particular number of months
word: gone
sense: carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)
word: eating for two
sense: carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)
word: having a bun in the oven
sense: carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)
word: in the family way
sense: carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)
word: knocked up
sense: carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)
word: preggers
sense: carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)
word: up the duff
sense: carrying offspring (colloquial/slang)
word: up the spout
sense: carrying offspring (euphemistic)
word: in an interesting condition
sense: carrying offspring (euphemistic)
word: in the family way
sense: having many possibilities or implications
word: meaningful
sense: having many possibilities or implications
word: significant
word: big
word: carrying
word: child-great
word: delicate
word: enceinte
topics: legal
law
word: full
word: gestating
topics: biology
natural-sciences
word: great
word: have a bun in the oven
word: heavy
word: hormonal
word: in a family way
word: in the club
word: in the pudding club
word: preg
word: pregs
word: preggie
word: preggo
word: pregnant
word: pupped
word: quick
word: up the kyte
word: up the stick
word: up the stump
Hyponyms: sense: carrying developing offspring
word: in trouble
word: the rabbit died
word: with young
Derived terms: barefoot and pregnant
big pregnant
fall pregnant
impregnant
I'm pregnant
midpregnant
negative pregnant
nonpregnant
pregnant and barefoot
pregnant chad
pregnant construction
pregnant denial
pregnantly
pregnantness
pregnant pause
pregnant woman
pregnercise
prepregnant
pseudopregnant
unpregnant
you can't be half pregnant
Related terms: impregnate
pregnancy