Midwife Meaning
/ˈmɪd.waɪf/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA person, usually a woman, who is trained to assist women in childbirth, but who is not a physician.
nounSomeone who assists in bringing about some result or project.
Sentence Examples
Mary is a midwife.
The tongue is the midwife of all disasters.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ provided support during labor and helped deliver the baby.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ provided compassionate care and support to the expectant mother throughout her pregnancy and during the birth of her baby.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English midwif, corresponding to mid (“with”) + wif (“woman, wife, female”). It appears not to be entirely clear whether the original understanding was “with-woman” in the sense of “attending/assisting woman”, or “they who are with the woman” (namely the mother).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The senior midwife confirmed that […] occasionally a multigravid woman could feel little more than slight abdominal discomfort."
— 2009, Jennifer Worth, Farewell to the East End, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, page 235:
"Despite Richard's efforts to midwive his own narrative of legitimacy, the source of this legendary one cannot be controlled because it has moved from the mouths of nurses, midwives and gossips into the public domain."
— 2017, Caroline Bicks, Midwiving Subjects in Shakespeare’s England, page 123:
"He had not read it, but he said that every detail in it was true. This struck me as a rather cavalier attitude to truth, but hatred is not the midwife of caution or accuracy."
— 2012, Theodore Dalrymple, The Wilder Shores of Marx: Journeys in a Vanishing World:
"But the bigger objective was to help Iraqis midwife a democratic model that could inspire reform across the Arab-Muslim world and give the youth there a chance at a better future."
— 2010 April 13, Thomas L. Friedman, “Attention: Baby on Board.”, in The New York Times:
"In the mid-1960s, Reichism was midwifed into reexistence by such stalwarts as William Schutz, Bernard Gunther, Charlotte Selver, Alexander Lowen, Ida Rolf, and many other exponents of human knead needs."
— 2013, Jon Carlson, William Knaus, Albert Ellis Revisited, →ISBN, page 288:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The ____ provided support during labor and helped deliver the baby.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ provided compassionate care and support to the expectant mother throughout her pregnancy and during the birth of her baby.