fetal
adjective
Simple meaning
Related to an unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development showing the main recognizable features of the mature animal.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
feetuhlSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈfitəl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
embryology
Of or relating to a fetus
embryology
Pertaining to, or connected with, a fetus.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to a fetus
Used this way, fetal is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use fetal
- “The doctor listened to the fetal heartbeat during the ultrasound.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
The age of an embryo counting from the time of fertilization.
A congenital medical condition in which body deformation occurs or facial development or mental ability is impaired because the mother drinks alcohol during pregnancy.
The system of blood vessels and structures through which blood moves in a fetus.
An abnormal condition of a fetus.
Any membrane that functions for the protection or nourishment or respiration or excretion of a developing fetus.
An electronic monitor that monitors fetal heartbeat and the mother's uterine contractions during childbirth.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Severe anemia in newborn babies.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.