miscarriage

English

Etymology

From mis- + carriage.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɪskaɹɪdʒ/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈmɪs.kæɹ.ədʒ/, /ˈmɪs.kɛɹ.ədʒ/
  • (file)

Noun

miscarriage (countable and uncountable, plural miscarriages)

  1. (now rare except in miscarriage of justice) A failure; a mistake or error. [from 16th c.]
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:
      for feare least blame / Of her miscarriage should in her be fond, / She wist not how t'amend, nor how it to withstond.
  2. The spontaneous natural termination of a pregnancy, especially before it is viable; the fatal expulsion of a foetus from the womb before term. [from 17th c.]

Synonyms

Usage notes

The death of an infant during labour or after it has become viable is generally called a stillbirth.

Translations

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