pregnant

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See also: prégnant

English

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A pregnant woman.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈpɹɛɡnənt/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛɡnənt

Etymology 1

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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").

Adjective

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pregnant (comparative more pregnant, superlative most pregnant)

  1. (chiefly not comparable) Carrying developing offspring within the body.
    • 2017 July 13, Bonnie Rochman, “Mothers-To-Be Aren’t Told Enough About Genetic Testing”, in Time[1]:
      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 That waiting game is completely outdated, even quaint.
    I went to the doctor and, guess what, I’m pregnant!
    I became pregnant in July 2014.
    1. Of a couple: expecting a baby together.
      We are pregnant.
  2. (comparable) Meaningful, having numerous possibilities or implications; full of promise; abounding in ability, resources, etc.
    a pregnant pause
  3. (poetic) Fecund, fertile, prolific (usually of soil, ground, etc.).
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      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.
  4. (obsolete) Affording entrance; receptive; yielding; willing; open; prompt.
  5. (obsolete) Ready-witted; clever; ingenious.
Synonyms
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Hyponyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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pregnant (plural pregnants)

  1. A pregnant person.
    • 1843, William Robert Wilde, Austria: Its Literary, Scientific, and Medical Institutions:
      The Entbundenen, or those already delivered, are separate from those pregnants awaiting their accouchement
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Apparently from Middle French pregnant, preignant (pressing, compelling), present participle of prembre (to press), from Latin premere (to press).

Adjective

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pregnant (comparative more pregnant, superlative most pregnant)

  1. (now rare) Compelling; clear, evident. [from 14th c.]
    • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle [], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., [], →OCLC:
      Peregrine was in a little time a distinguished character, not only for his acuteness of apprehension, but also for that mischievous fertility of fancy, of which we have already given such pregnant examples.

Dutch

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Middle French pregnant, from Old French pregnant, from Latin praegnāns.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /prɛxˈnɑnt/
  • Audio:(file)
  • Hyphenation: preg‧nant
  • Rhymes: -ɑnt

Adjective

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pregnant (comparative pregnanter, superlative pregnantst)

  1. poignant, incisive
  2. meaningful, polysemic
  3. (obsolete) important

Declension

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Declension of pregnant
uninflected pregnant
inflected pregnante
comparative pregnanter
positive comparative superlative
predicative/adverbial pregnant pregnanter het pregnantst
het pregnantste
indefinite m./f. sing. pregnante pregnantere pregnantste
n. sing. pregnant pregnanter pregnantste
plural pregnante pregnantere pregnantste
definite pregnante pregnantere pregnantste
partitive pregnants pregnanters

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from German prägnant and French prégnant.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /preɡˈnant/
  • Rhymes: -ant
  • Hyphenation: preg‧nant

Adjective

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pregnant m or n (feminine singular pregnantă, masculine plural pregnanți, feminine and neuter plural pregnante)

  1. (literary) evident, marked, manifest
    Synonym: (literary) vădit

Declension

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References

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Swedish

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Adjective

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pregnant (comparative pregnantare, superlative pregnantast)

  1. pregnant (clear and pithy, of an expression, language, or the like)
  2. striking (distinctive, pronounced)

Usage notes

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Pregnant as in carrying a baby is gravid (of a human) or dräktig (of an animal).

Declension

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Inflection of pregnant
Indefinite Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular pregnant pregnantare pregnantast
Neuter singular pregnant pregnantare pregnantast
Plural pregnanta pregnantare pregnantast
Masculine plural3 pregnante pregnantare pregnantast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 pregnante pregnantare pregnantaste
All pregnanta pregnantare pregnantaste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in the predicative.
3) Dated or archaic

References

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