How to Use gestation in a Sentence

gestation

noun
  • The book has been in gestation for a long time.
  • The long gestation proved to be a gift.
    — Kennedy French, Variety, 23 Feb. 2026
  • All those projects are in the very early stages of gestation.
    — Borys Kit, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Oct. 2022
  • But the band also learned that the long gestation led to some of their best ideas.
    — Sam Sodomsky, Pitchfork, 1 Feb. 2026
  • Around six weeks of gestation, tooth buds start to appear.
    — Sarah Lindenfeld Hall, Popular Science, 11 Mar. 2026
  • Not that the album had an easy gestation.
    — Spin Staff, SPIN, 1 June 2026
  • Twenty weeks’ gestation, after all, is the same as five months.
    — Alexandra Desanctis, National Review, 29 Jan. 2018
  • The gestation of an elephant is nearly two years and that of a building even longer.
    — Michael J. Lewis, WSJ, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Many of the provisions have been in gestation for months, even years in some cases.
    — Robert Pear, New York Times, 8 Feb. 2018
  • That’s because the brain and spine begin to form within the first four weeks of gestation.
    — Ana B. Ibarra, The Mercury News, 15 Apr. 2024
  • The top new entry on the latest frame has had a 12-year gestation.
    — Lars Brandle, Billboard, 27 Jan. 2023
  • Compared to the mad days of their gestation there are no mysteries of shock and awe, no strut and spunk.
    — Matt Thompson, SPIN, 9 Jan. 2024
  • It is cleared to end a pregnancy through 10 weeks of gestation.
    — Jamie Gumbrecht, CNN Money, 25 Sep. 2025
  • The sow will breed again and return to the gestation crate to bear another litter.
    — Krista Kafer, Denver Post, 18 May 2026
  • Shark gestation periods can vary from five months to a handful of years, and some sharks can store sperm for months at a time.
    — Erin Davis and Katherine Dillinger, CNN, 14 July 2019
  • The ponds that retain water from the snowmelt in the mountains dry up and the herd’s gestation cycles get thrown off.
    — Josh Haner, National Geographic, 29 June 2018
  • That’s when the egg adheres to her uterine wall for a brief gestation before cubs weighing less than a pound are born.
    — David James, Anchorage Daily News, 16 July 2022
  • Vets can count the fetuses with X-rays over 45 days of gestation.
    — Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 27 July 2024
  • At five-and-a-half months’ gestation, the fetus is the size of a papaya and has begun to grow eyebrows and hair.
    — Alexandra Desanctis, National Review, 10 Nov. 2020
  • The film had a long gestation that involved hours in various archives and many more in the editing room.
    — Neil Genzlinger, BostonGlobe.com, 9 July 2020
  • The twins received their first dose at 26 weeks gestation and a second dose at 31 weeks.
    — Michael Nedelman, CNN, 18 May 2018
  • At 29 weeks gestation, a baby weighs about three pounds and is about 16 inches long.
    — Olivia Hitchcock, ajc, 20 Sep. 2017
  • The big battle in the now decade-long war has been over gestation crates, small containment units that are used to house pregnant pigs.
    — Tristan Bove, Fortune, 21 Apr. 2022
  • About half are with a pill, which can be taken up to 12 weeks gestation, and most are done at 15 weeks or less.
    — Bob Christie, ajc, 4 Oct. 2022
  • Each of the babies was born before 32 weeks gestation, weighing no more than about 3 pounds.
    — Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune, 10 Mar. 2026
  • At the end of four months—the normal gestation period for the species—Lola gave birth to the twin tamarins.
    — David Kindy, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2021
  • The drugs are approved for use by the FDA up to 10 weeks of gestation.
    — Mike Cason | [email protected], al, 23 Feb. 2022
  • Eighty-nine percent of the procedures were performed in the first 12 weeks of gestation.
    — Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2022
  • Five to seven pups are born in April after 60 to 63 days gestation.
    — Jim Gilbert, Star Tribune, 25 Feb. 2021
  • An extra week of gestation almost makes up for pregnancy being called la grossesse in French, non?
    — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 17 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gestation.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: