MOTHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mother mean? 

• MOTHER (noun)
  The noun MOTHER has 5 senses:

1. a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)

2. a stringy slimy substance consisting of yeast cells and bacteria; forms during fermentation and is added to cider or wine to produce vinegar

3. a term of address for an elderly woman

4. a term of address for a mother superior

5. a condition that is the inspiration for an activity or situation

  Familiarity information: MOTHER used as a noun is common.

• MOTHER (verb)
  The verb MOTHER has 2 senses:

1. care for like a mother

2. make (offspring) by reproduction

  Familiarity information: MOTHER used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MOTHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

female parent; mother

Context example:

the mother of three children

Hypernyms ("mother" is a kind of...):

parent (a father or mother; one who begets or one who gives birth to or nurtures and raises a child; a relative who plays the role of guardian)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mother"):

ma; mama; mamma; mammy; mom; momma; mommy; mum; mummy (informal terms for a mother)

mater (an informal use of the Latin word for mother; sometimes used by British schoolboys or used facetiously)

mother-in-law (the mother of your spouse)

para I; primipara ((obstetrics) woman who has been delivered of a child for the first time)

puerpera (a woman in childbirth or shortly thereafter)

quadripara ((obstetrics) woman who has given birth to a viable infant in each of four pregnancies)

quintipara ((obstetrics) woman who has given birth to a viable infant in each of five pregnancies)

supermom (an informal term for a mother who can combine childcare and full-time employment)

surrogate mother (a woman who bears a child for a couple where the wife is unable to do so)

Instance hyponyms:

Blessed Virgin; Madonna; Mary; The Virgin; Virgin Mary (the mother of Jesus; Christians refer to her as the Virgin Mary; she is especially honored by Roman Catholics)

Antonym:

father (a male parent (also used as a term of address to your father))

Derivation:

mother (make (offspring) by reproduction)

mother (care for like a mother)

motherhood (the kinship relation between an offspring and the mother)

motherly (befitting a mother; warm and nurturing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A stringy slimy substance consisting of yeast cells and bacteria; forms during fermentation and is added to cider or wine to produce vinegar

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("mother" is a kind of...):

barm; yeast (a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells; used to raise the dough in making bread and for fermenting beer or whiskey)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A term of address for an elderly woman

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("mother" is a kind of...):

old woman (a woman who is old)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A term of address for a mother superior

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("mother" is a kind of...):

abbess; mother superior; prioress (the superior of a group of nuns)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A condition that is the inspiration for an activity or situation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

necessity is the mother of invention

Hypernyms ("mother" is a kind of...):

inspiration (arousal of the mind to special unusual activity or creativity)

• MOTHER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they mother    ... he / she / it mothers   
Past simple: mothered   
Past participle: mothered   
-ing form: mothering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Care for like a mother

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

fuss; mother; overprotect

Context example:

She fusses over her husband

Hypernyms (to "mother" is one way to...):

care; give care (provide care for)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

mother (a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make (offspring) by reproduction

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

beget; bring forth; engender; father; generate; get; mother; sire

Context example:

John fathered four daughters

Hypernyms (to "mother" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

mother (a woman who has given birth to a child (also used as a term of address to your mother))

 Context examples 

Some years after I had broken with the mother, she abandoned her child, and ran away to Italy with a musician or singer.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Nor was her residence at her mother’s house of a nature to restore her gaiety.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“I am all in a tremble,” faltered my mother.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

But the sympathies of the latter were with the mother?

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was not so large,—he weighed only one hundred and forty pounds,—for his mother, Shep, had been a Scotch shepherd dog.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

But dark or fair, she is my own dear little girlie, and her mother’s pet.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sister of your father or mother; the wife of your uncle.

(Aunt, NCI Thesaurus)

A pregnancy that is normal for both the mother and the fetus.

(Normal Pregnancy, NCI Thesaurus)

I know I ought to have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before his mother and all those great people.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mother didn't say anything about our money, and she won't wish us to give up everything.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)