Meaning & use
mum-to-be
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Meanings
nouncountableinformalBritish
A woman who is going to have a baby, especially one expecting her first child.
Grammar: Countable and used with an or the; the plural is mums-to-be, not mum-to-bes.
Patterns
- a mum-to-be
- mums-to-be
- be a mum-to-be
The clinic runs a weekly class for mums-to-be.
My sister is a mum-to-be, so we are painting the nursery this weekend.
Several mums-to-be said the breathing exercises really helped.
adjectivebefore a nouninformalBritish
Expecting a baby; used before a noun to describe a woman in this situation.
Grammar: Comes before the noun and has no comparative form: a mum-to-be friend, not a friend who is mum-to-be.
Patterns
- a mum-to-be body
- mum-to-be clothes
The shop sells mum-to-be clothes in larger sizes.
She joined a mum-to-be yoga group in her second trimester.
Word forms
| plural | mums-to-be |
|---|
Common combinations
- a first-time mum-to-be
- The forum has a section just for first-time mums-to-be.
- advice for mums-to-be
- The midwife gave us a leaflet of advice for mums-to-be.
- a class for mums-to-be
- He signed up for a class for mums-to-be at the local health center.
- a mum-to-be group
- She met two close friends through a mum-to-be group online.
- an expectant mum-to-be
- The magazine asked three expectant mums-to-be about their cravings.
Synonyms and how they differ
- expectant mother
- More formal and neutral, and it is the usual choice in news reports or medical writing; mum-to-be sounds warmer and more conversational.
- mom-to-be
- The American English version of the same informal term; use it with American readers, since mum sounds British to them.
- pregnant woman
- A plain, factual description rather than a friendly label; it fits medical or official contexts but can sound blunt in casual chat.
Word family
- mum noun
- An informal British word for a mother.
- mummy noun
- A child's word for mother in British English, or a preserved body in another sense.
- motherhood noun
- The state or experience of being a mother.
Commonly confused: mum-to-be or bride-to-be? mum-to-be or mum-to-bes?
mum-to-be vs bride-to-be
This follows the same pattern but means a woman who is getting married soon, so it cannot describe someone expecting a baby.
mum-to-be vs mum-to-bes
A common wrong plural; the correct form changes the first part, giving mums-to-be, because the head of the phrase is mum.
Practice
Which sentence uses the plural correctly?
Choose one answer.
The plural marker goes on the first word, so it is mums-to-be, just like mothers-in-law. Option 0 and option 2 add the plural to the wrong part, and option 3 leaves the phrase unchanged, which cannot follow the number three.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “mum-to-be”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.