GESTATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gestation mean? 

• GESTATION (noun)
  The noun GESTATION has 3 senses:

1. the period during which an embryo develops (about 266 days in humans)

2. the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus

3. the conception and development of an idea or plan

  Familiarity information: GESTATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GESTATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The period during which an embryo develops (about 266 days in humans)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

gestation; gestation period

Hypernyms ("gestation" is a kind of...):

biological time (the time of various biological processes)

Meronyms (parts of "gestation"):

full term; term (the end of gestation or point at which birth is imminent)

midterm (the middle of the gestation period)

trimester (a period of three months; especially one of the three three-month periods into which human pregnancy is divided)

Derivation:

gestate (be pregnant with)

gestational (of or relating to gestation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

gestation; maternity; pregnancy

Hypernyms ("gestation" is a kind of...):

physical condition; physiological condition; physiological state (the condition or state of the body or bodily functions)

Meronyms (parts of "gestation"):

morning sickness (nausea early in the day; a characteristic symptom in the early months of pregnancy)

cleavage; segmentation ((embryology) the repeated division of a fertilised ovum)

quickening (the stage of pregnancy at which the mother first feels the movements of the fetus)

childbed; confinement; labor; labour; lying-in; parturiency; travail (concluding state of pregnancy; from the onset of contractions to the birth of a child)

Domain member category:

fetal movement; foetal movement (motion of a fetus within the uterus (usually detected by the 16th week of pregnancy))

phlebothrombosis; venous thrombosis (thrombosis of a vein without prior inflammation of the vein; associated with sluggish blood flow (as in prolonged bedrest or pregnancy or surgery) or with rapid coagulation of the blood)

endometrium ((pregnancy) the mucous membrane that lines the uterus; thickens under hormonal control and (if pregnancy does not occur) is shed in menstruation; if pregnancy occurs it is shed along with the placenta at parturition)

stretch mark (a narrow band resulting from tension on the skin (as on abdominal skin after pregnancy))

amnio; amniocentesis ((pregnancy) extraction by centesis of amniotic fluid from a pregnant woman (after the 15th week of pregnancy) to aid in the diagnosis of fetal abnormalities)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gestation"):

trouble (an unwanted pregnancy)

gravidation; gravidity; gravidness (technical terms for pregnancy)

gravida (the number of the pregnancy that a woman is in)

para; parity ((obstetrics) the number of liveborn children a woman has delivered)

eccyesis; ectopic gestation; ectopic pregnancy; extrauterine gestation; extrauterine pregnancy; metacyesis (pregnancy resulting from gestation elsewhere than in the uterus)

entopic pregnancy (pregnancy resulting from normal gestation in the uterus)

placenta previa (pregnancy in which the placenta is implanted in the lower part of the uterus (instead of the upper part); can cause bleeding late in pregnancy; delivery by cesarean section may be necessary)

Derivation:

gestate (be pregnant with)

gestational (of or relating to gestation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The conception and development of an idea or plan

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("gestation" is a kind of...):

construction; mental synthesis (the creation of a construct; the process of combining ideas into a congruous object of thought)

Derivation:

gestate (have the idea for)

gestational (of or relating to gestation)

 Context examples 

Death of a fetus after 10 weeks gestation.

(Intrauterine Fetal Death, NCI Thesaurus)

Preterm birth from 20 weeks to 36 weeks, 6 days of gestation that is necessitated by the medical condition of the mother or fetus.

(Indicated Preterm Birth, NCI Thesaurus)

In humans, the developing organism from the time of fertilization until the end of the eighth week of gestation, when it is called a fetus.

(Embryo, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Death of a fetus at 10 weeks, 0 days to 15 weeks, 6 days of gestation.

(Early Fetal Death, NCI Thesaurus)

A congenital malformation of the larynx in which there is failure of recanalization of the laryngotracheal tube during gestation.

(Larynx Atresia, NCI Thesaurus)

Death of a fetus at 16 weeks, 0 days to 19 weeks, 6 days of gestation.

(Late Fetal Death, NCI Thesaurus)

The death of an infant before birth after 28 weeks of gestation or shortly after birth.

(Perinatal Death, NCI Thesaurus)

The number of pregnancies reaching 20 weeks and 0 days of gestation or beyond, regardless of the number of fetuses or outcomes.

(Parity, NCI Thesaurus)

Expression of NEGF2 is predominant only for a short period from approximately one-half to two-thirds of the way through gestation; before and after that, it is barely detectable.

(Neurite Growth-Promoting Factor 2, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes choriogonadotropin subunit beta protein, plays a role in gestation.

(CGB wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)