MISCARRIAGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does miscarriage mean? 

• MISCARRIAGE (noun)
  The noun MISCARRIAGE has 2 senses:

1. failure of a plan

2. a natural loss of the products of conception

  Familiarity information: MISCARRIAGE used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MISCARRIAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Failure of a plan

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

abortion; miscarriage

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

failure (an event that does not accomplish its intended purpose)

Derivation:

miscarry (be unsuccessful)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A natural loss of the products of conception

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

miscarriage; spontaneous abortion; stillbirth

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

abortion (termination of pregnancy)

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

habitual abortion (repeated spontaneous abortion (often for no known reason))

imminent abortion; threatened abortion (the appearance of symptoms that signal the impending loss of the products of conception)

incomplete abortion; partial abortion (termination of pregnancy without expulsion of all of the products of conception)

Derivation:

miscarry (suffer a miscarriage)

 Context examples 

If a woman can get pregnant but keeps having miscarriages or stillbirths, that's also called infertility.

(Infertility, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

The same conclusion was reached, a little later that night, between Mrs. Morse and her husband, after she had made due confession of the miscarriage of her plans.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A synthetic form of the hormone estrogen that was prescribed to pregnant women between about 1940 and 1971 because it was thought to prevent miscarriages.

(DES, NCI Dictionary)

Most miscarriages occur very early in the pregnancy, often before a woman even knows she is pregnant.

(Miscarriage, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

A surgical procedure performed to prevent a miscarriage by stitching the opening of the cervix closed.

(Cervical Cerclage, NCI Thesaurus)

The result is usually a miscarriage.

(Ectopic Pregnancy, Dept. of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health)

The researchers saw a reduction in miscarriage risk for women who took a daily multivitamin.

(Couples’ pre-pregnancy caffeine consumption linked to miscarriage risk, NIH)

These include: previous experience of miscarriage, depression or anxiety, a mother’s relationship with her own parents, or cultures in which focusing on the baby is considered inappropriate.

(Mother’s attitude towards baby during pregnancy may have implications for child’s development, University of Cambridge)

A measurement of the total number of instances in which there has been a spontaneous termination of pregnancy (miscarriage) or elective termination of pregnancy.

(Number of Abortions, NCI Thesaurus/CDISC)

Several mechanisms have been proposed to underlie the relationship between miscarriage and coronary heart disease, including immune disorders, chronic disease and dysfunction of the endothelium (cells that line the interior of blood vessels).

(Pregnancy losses and large numbers of children linked with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, University of Cambridge)