What does miscarried mean?
“Miscarried” is the past tense and past participle of “miscarry.” In its principal medical sense, it describes the involuntary loss of a pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent survival: a person may have “miscarried,” or be told that a pregnancy has miscarried. The word is sensitive because pregnancy loss can involve both physical pain and grief, so its use is often clinical, private, or accompanied by careful support. In figurative language, “miscarried” means that an undertaking failed before reaching successful completion. For example, a business plan, research project, or career change may be described as having miscarried. This extension reflects the word’s older literal sense of failing to carry a pregnancy to term. While the medical meaning is its dominant modern use, the figurative sense can communicate the frustrated collapse of something that once seemed likely to develop successfully.
To undergo the involuntary loss of a pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent survival; figuratively, to fail before successful completion.
"She miscarried in the first trimester."
The medical use is sensitive. Figurative use is possible but may sound blunt when describing a failed project or plan.
Having undergone a miscarriage; figuratively, having failed before successful completion.
"The hospital offered emotional support to patients recovering from a miscarried pregnancy."
Usually encountered in the compound “miscarried pregnancy”; the figurative adjectival use is less common.
Long before it described a pregnancy loss, “miscarry” literally meant to fail to carry something through to its intended end.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does miscarried come from?
The word was formed in English by combining the prefix “mis-” with “carry,” originally conveying the failure to carry a pregnancy to term. “Carry” comes through Anglo-Norman French from Latin “carricare,” meaning to transport by cart, while the prefix “mis-” has long expressed fault, error, or wrongdoing. The same Latin root underlies “carriage,” “carrier,” and “cargo,” making them related words even though “miscarry” developed through an English compound.
Related word forms
How miscarried is actually used
In medical contexts, the term is sensitive and is often used with clinical precision or compassion. “Miscarried” is normally an inflected form of “miscarry”; in figurative use, it can sound forceful or dismissive when applied to a project or plan.