Meaning & use
midwife
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Meanings
nouncountable
A health worker trained to care for women during pregnancy, birth and the first weeks afterward, and to help deliver babies.
Grammar: Refers to people of any gender: a male midwife is also a midwife.
Patterns
- a midwife delivers something
- see a midwife
The midwife checked the baby's heartbeat every hour.
We met our midwife at the clinic in the sixth month.
She trained for three years to become a midwife.
verbtransitivefigurativeformal
To help something new come into being, especially a plan, agreement or organization.
Grammar: Takes an object: midwife a deal. Used figuratively and rather formally.
Patterns
- midwife something
The mediator midwifed a peace agreement between the two firms.
A small team midwifed the project through its difficult first year.
He midwifed the new law through a divided committee.
Word forms
| plural | midwives |
|---|---|
| third person singular | midwifes |
| past tense | midwifed |
| past participle | midwifed |
| -ing form | midwifing |
Common combinations
- qualified midwife
- A qualified midwife attended the home birth.
- community midwife
- The community midwife visits new mothers at home.
- call the midwife
- Call the midwife as soon as the contractions are regular.
- midwife-led unit
- They chose a midwife-led unit for the birth.
- traditional midwife
- In some villages a traditional midwife still delivers most babies.
Synonyms and how they differ
- obstetrician
- An obstetrician is a medical doctor who handles complicated pregnancies and surgery, while a midwife focuses on normal births.
- birth attendant
- Birth attendant is a broader, more neutral term that can include people without formal training.
- accoucheur
- Accoucheur is an old, rare word for a man who assists at births, and midwife is the normal modern term.
Word family
- midwifery noun
- the profession and practice of midwives
- midwifed verb
- past form of the figurative verb
- midwives noun
- the plural of midwife
Commonly confused: midwife or doula?
midwife vs doula
A doula gives comfort and support during birth but is not a trained medical professional, while a midwife can deliver the baby.
Practice
Which person is most likely to deliver a baby in a normal home birth?
Choose one answer.
A midwife is trained to oversee pregnancy and delivery. The other professions work in medicine but do not usually deliver babies.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “midwife”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.