Pregnant Meaning
/ˈpɹɛɡnənt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
adjCarrying developing offspring within the body.
adjCarrying developing offspring within the body., Of a couple: expecting a baby together.
Sentence Examples
I am four months pregnant.
Some of the ingredients are harmful, especially if you are pregnant.
Our research findings indicate that pregnant women benefit from this treatment.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
The young woman was ____ and could feel the baby moving inside her.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ woman was advised to rest and avoid strenuous activity during the final trimester.
Word Origin & History
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").
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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 That waiting game is completely outdated, even quaint."
— 2017 July 13, Bonnie Rochman, “Mothers-To-Be Aren’t Told Enough About Genetic Testing”, in Time:
"It suggests that pregnant women should be called pregnant people, presumably on the basis that just perhaps there may be a pregnant man somewhere."
— 2025 February 19, Christian Wolmar, “Mind your language...”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 34:
"wherein the pregnant enemy does much"
— 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]:
"The many tear-jerkers deal with finality, with death and the end of love, with a stoicism pregnant with feeling."
— 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:
"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."
— 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The young woman was ____ and could feel the baby moving inside her.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The ____ woman was advised to rest and avoid strenuous activity during the final trimester.