Pregnant Definition & Meaning

American

British

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms pregnant 1 American [preg-nuhnt] / ˈprɛg nənt /

adjective

1. having a child or other offspring developing in the body; with child or young, as a woman or female mammal.

2. fraught, filled, or abounding (usually followed bywith ).

   a silence pregnant with suspense.

3. teeming or fertile; rich (often followed byin ).

   a mind pregnant in ideas.

4. full of meaning; highly significant.

   a pregnant utterance.

5. of great importance or potential; momentous.

   a pregnant moment in the history of the world.

pregnant 2 American [preg-nuhnt] / ˈprɛg nənt /

adjective

Archaic.

1. convincing; cogent.

   a pregnant argument.

pregnant British / ˈprɛɡnənt /

adjective

1. carrying a fetus or fetuses within the womb

2. full of meaning or significance

3. inventive or imaginative

4. prolific or fruitful

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

• pregnantly adverb
• pregnantness noun

Etymology

Origin of pregnant1

1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin praegnant- (stem of praegnāns ), variant of praegnās, equivalent to prae- pre- + *gnāt- (akin to ( g ) nātus born, gignere to bring into being) + -s nominative singular ending

Origin of pregnant1

1350–1400; Middle English preignant < Old French, present participle of preindre, earlier priembre to press 1 < Latin premere. print

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

She was pregnant when her husband was killed and he never got to meet their daughter.

From BBC

My daughter is getting married next year and plans to try to get pregnant immediately.

From MarketWatch

And when Ball got pregnant midway through the run, “Lucy” turned the fictional birth of Little Ricky into the medium’s first major piece of event programming.

From The Wall Street Journal

Even in her chair, the boy could tell she was very tall, very pregnant, and had very dark skin.

From Literature

Her tummy was beginning to look a little rounded, and I wondered if she might be pregnant.

From Literature

Related Words

• rich

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.