mother
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A female parent.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
muhtherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmʌðɚ
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.
noun
A female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).
A woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)
A female who has given birth to a baby; this person in relation to her child or children.
A female who donates a fertilized egg or donates a body cell which has resulted in a clone.
figuratively
A female ancestor.
A pregnant female; mother-to-be; a female who gestates a baby.
verb
transitive
To treat as a mother would be expected to treat her child; to nurture.
transitive
To cause to contain mother ("that substance which develops in fermenting alcohol and turns it into vinegar").
chiefly transitive
To give birth to or produce (as its female parent) a child.
Care for like a mother
intransitiveof an alcohol
To develop mother.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A female parent, especially of a human; a female who parents a child (which she has given birth to, adopted, or fostered).
Used this way, mother is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in family or home contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Family/home
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use mother
- “The mother of three children.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Cell from which another cell of an organism (usually of a different sort) develops.
The country where you were born.
A woman who evokes the feelings usually reserved for a mother.
Insulting terms of address for people who are stupid or irritating or ridiculous.
The imaginary author of a collection of nursery rhymes.
A person who cares for the needs of others (especially in an overprotective or interfering way).
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
The kinship relation between an offspring and the mother.
A boy excessively attached to his mother.
A daughter who is favored by and similar to her mother.
A mother of your grandparent.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Antonyms
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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.