maternity
UK /məˈtɜːnɪti/ · US /məˈtɜɹnəti/ noun
Forms maternities
- noun The state of being a mother; motherhood.
- noun The state of being pregnant; pregnancy.
- noun A ward or department in a hospital in which babies are born. “She's working in maternity this month.”
Synonyms
maternity ward pregnancy gestation motherhood motherliness maternalism maternal quality
Antonyms
Etymology
From French maternité, from Latin māternitās.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [F. maternité, LL. maternitas.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “maternity”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details