pregnant means carrying developing offspring within the body. It carries an Arena rating of 1499, earned across 6 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pregnant ranks #2,340 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,430 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words, #7,082 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words, #7,102 of 14,448 for Funniest Words.
pregnant is pronounced /ˈpɹɛɡnənt/.
Why “pregnant” is a great word
Carrying developing offspring within the body. From Middle English *preignant*, from Old French *preignant*, from Latin *praegnāns*, probably from *prae-* ("before") + *gnāscī*, an archaic form of *nāscī* ("to be born"). Unlike "gravid," which clinically names the biological condition, or "expecting," which politely deflects to a future outcome, "pregnant" occupies the full, present-tense reality of the state. It is the swell of a belly beneath a stretched sweater, the particular exhaustion that pools behind the eyes, the private knowledge that two heartbeats now occupy one room. And it is, in its older sense still faintly audible, the heavy fullness of anything waiting to be born: a silence pregnant with meaning, a sky pregnant with storm—the body become both vessel and threshold, where what is hidden will inevitably make itself known.
Etymology
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").
adj
- Carrying developing offspring within the body.“I went to the doctor and, guess what, I’m five weeks pregnant!”
- Carrying developing offspring within the body.; Of a couple: expecting a baby together.“We are pregnant.”
- Meaningful, having numerous possibilities or implications; full of promise; abounding in ability, resources, etc.“a pregnant pause”
- Fecund, fertile, prolific (usually of soil, ground, etc.).“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.”
- Pervaded by something, usually sth intangible.“The operations center was pregnant with anxiety.”
- Affording entrance; receptive; yielding; willing; open; prompt.“play at subtill games; faire vertues all;
To which the Grecians are most prompt and pregnant”
- Ready-witted; clever; ingenious.
- Compelling; clear, evident.“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.”
noun
- A pregnant person.“The Entbundenen, or those already delivered, are separate from those pregnants awaiting their accouchement”
Words closest in meaning
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