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Definition of "stillborn" [still•born]

  • Dead at birth. (adjective)
  • Failing before or at the very beginning or inception; abortive: a stillborn plot to assassinate the President. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "stillborn" in a sentence
  • "Women become pregnant very young, recieve insufficient nutrition, and as a result they endure protracted labor resulting in stillborn babies -- and injuries that result in eventual incontinence, social ostracism, and heartbreak."
  • "My mother had a full-term stillborn baby that she had similar thoughts about - what would she have been like?"
  • "The patient, a 35-year-old woman, delivered a full-term stillborn baby in Santa Monica,"