- 1 (of a woman or female animal) having a baby or young animal developing inside her/its body My wife is pregnant. I was pregnant with our third child at the time. a heavily pregnant woman (= one whose baby is nearly ready to be born) to get/become pregnant He got his girlfriend pregnant and they're getting married. She's six months pregnant. CollocationsChildrenHaving a baby/child want a baby/a child/kids start a family conceive/be expecting/be going to have a baby/child miss your period become/get/be/find out that you are pregnant have a baby/a child/kids/a son/a daughter/twins/a family have a normal/a difficult/an unwanted pregnancy; an easy/a difficult/a home birth be in/go into/induce labour (especially US English) labor have/suffer/cause a miscarriage give birth to a child/baby/daughter/son/twinsParenting bring up/ (especially North American English) raise a child/family care for/ (especially British English) look after a baby/child/kid change (British English) a nappy/(North American English) a diaper/a baby feed/breastfeed/bottle-feed a baby be entitled to/go on maternity/paternity leave go back/return to work after maternity leave need/find/get a babysitter/good quality affordable childcare balance/combine work and childcare/child-rearing/family life educate/teach/home-school a child/kid punish/discipline/spoil a child/kid adopt a baby/child/kid offer a baby for/put a baby up for adoption (especially British English) foster a child/kid be placed with/be raised by foster parents Wordfinderpregnantantenatal, child, conception, fetus, maternity leave, miscarriage, morning sickness, pregnant, scan, womb Oxford Collocations Dictionary verbsbe, look, become, … adverbheavily, very, visibly, … prepositionby, with phrasessix weeks, three months, etc. pregnant See full entry See related entries: Pregnancy
- 2pregnant with something (formal) full of a quality or feeling Her silences were pregnant with criticism. Word Originlate Middle English: from Latin praegnant-, probably from prae ‘before’ + the base of gnasci ‘be born’.Extra examples She was newly pregnant at the time. She was pregnant by a former client. She was pregnant with twins. When I found out I was pregnant, I didn’t know what to do.Idioms
an occasion when nobody speaks, although people are aware that there are feelings or thoughts to express There was a pregnant pause before she replied.
Check pronunciation: pregnant
