Meaning & use
nullipara
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountablemedicaltechnical
A woman who has never given birth to a baby that survived beyond a very early stage of pregnancy.
Grammar: Countable; the plural is nulliparae or nulliparas.
Patterns
- a nullipara aged something
The midwife recorded the patient as a nullipara in her first pregnancy.
Doctors compared the outcomes of nulliparae with those of women who had given birth before.
As a nullipara, she needed extra advice about what labor might involve.
Word forms
| plural | nulliparae |
|---|---|
| plural (alternative) | nulliparas |
Common combinations
- young nullipara
- The clinic specializes in care for the young nullipara.
- healthy nullipara
- A healthy nullipara usually has a longer first labor.
- nullipara patient
- The nullipara patient attended every prenatal class.
- classified as a nullipara
- She was classified as a nullipara in the hospital notes.
- nullipara and multipara
- The study compared the nullipara and multipara groups.
Synonyms and how they differ
- primigravida
- A primigravida is a woman pregnant for the first time, whereas a nullipara has not given birth, whether or not she is pregnant now.
- first-time mother
- First-time mother is the everyday expression, but it only applies once she is expecting or has a baby, unlike nullipara.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: nullipara or nulligravida?
nullipara vs nulligravida
A nulligravida has never been pregnant, which is different from a nullipara, who has never given birth.
Practice
Which description best matches a nullipara?
Choose one answer.
Nullipara means a woman who has not given birth. Having children would make her a multipara, and her profession or twin pregnancy does not matter.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “nullipara”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.