mother 1 of 3

noun

Definition of mothernext
as in mom
a female human parent he dreaded telling his mother that her favorite figurine had gotten broken

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

mother

2 of 3

adjective

as in maternal
of, relating to, or characteristic of a mother she often offered to babysit for friends, hoping to satisfy her mother urges until she had children of her own

Synonyms & Similar Words

mother

3 of 3

verb

1
as in to have
to bring forth from the womb I hope to mother at least one child

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to nurse
to attend to the needs and comforts of mothered the patients with chicken soup

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of mother
Noun
For Angie Barlow’s mother, Christina Kramer, the 10-year mark of her daughter’s disappearance brings questions about both her death and the status of the ongoing investigation. — Leigh Egan, FOXNews.com, 25 Oct. 2026 The child’s mother, Cindy Rodriguez-Singh, has been indicted on a charge of capital murder of a person under 10 years old in her son’s death. — Shambhavi Rimal, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 25 Oct. 2026
Verb
My mother lost her own mother at 14 and was never fully mothered back to wholeness. — Eli Raphael, PEOPLE, 10 May 2026 Perhaps pasta or pizza with cheese is so comforting because we’re literally being mothered by flowering plants and bovines? — Literary Hub, 25 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for mother
Recent Examples of Synonyms for mother
  1. mom
  2. maternal
  3. have
  4. nurse
  5. produce
  6. deliver
  7. birth
Noun
  • Ippolito set out on a mission to find her mom’s missing dress.
    — Allison Kiehl, Chicago Tribune, 28 Oct. 2026
  • Lucy leaves their countryside home with Johnny immediately, going straight to her mother’s house ( Catherine Deneuve plays mom), but avoids telling her, or anyone else, the specifics of this sudden separation.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of mom
Adjective
  • All but one mainstream newspaper have criticized the revisions, and media surveys show a large majority of the public support female monarchs or maternal-line succession.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Kendall and Kylie are so much younger that Kim has almost maternal pride in them.
    — Maer Roshan, HollywoodReporter, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of maternal
Verb
  • New discoveries matter only if companies have the incentive and capital to bring them to market.
    — Rick Lazio, Fortune, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Fellow guard Nick Dorn (Indiana) had 8 points and six rebounds.
    — Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of have
Verb
  • Joeys will leave the pouch at about 235 days old, but will continue to nurse until about 1-year-old, sometimes longer.
    — Kendrick Calfee, Kansas City Star, 24 Oct. 2026
  • The Saints could be without star quarterback Brailon Davis who’s nursing an injury, but backup Bodie Brown has stepped in and completed 32 of 45 for 454 yards and seven touchdowns in the past two games.
    — Darren Lauber, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of nurse
Verb
  • Co-produced by John Congleton, the record swaps synth-pop for gutter-punk, with distorted guitars and clattering surf riffs as its weapons of choice.
    — Zach Schonfeld, Pitchfork, 26 Oct. 2026
  • However, this movie carries a hefty $100 million price tag (stop-motion animation is labor-intensive and takes years to produce) and likely won’t turn a theatrical profit.
    — Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 25 Oct. 2026
Definition of produce
Verb
  • This collaborative work delivers a new chemical strategy for fabricating high-performance flexible perovskite modules in China.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Synthetic mRNA delivers the instructions on these specific targets, allowing the body to present them to immune cells.
    — Mike McRae October 25, New Atlas, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of deliver
Verb
  • Relatively cheap, unmanned aerial systems connected to low Earth orbit satellite networks have birthed a new frontier of difficult-to-defend-against innovations in aerial warfare.
    — Gerard Toal, The Conversation, 16 Oct. 2026
  • When Denver broke ground on the construction of its new airport some four decades ago, the city strung something of an albatross around its neck as the megaproject proved to be difficult to birth.
    — Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of birth

Phrases Containing mother

Browse Nearby Words

moth-eaten
mother
mother countries
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Mother.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/mother. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on mother

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about mother

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of shindig

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

'Affect' vs. 'Effect'

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE
See More

Popular

See More

How to Use 'Who' vs. 'Whom'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
different halloween monsters in silhouette
A Monstrous Vocab Quiz Words That Go Bump in the Night
See All