What does miscarry mean?
Miscarry is a verb with two principal meanings. In general usage, it means that an intended plan, undertaking, or attempt has failed or gone wrong, as in “the project miscarried.” This use can sound formal or literary and often carries a sense of disappointment in something that once seemed promising. In medicine, to miscarry means to lose a pregnancy spontaneously before the fetus is viable. This sense is more specific than simply having a pregnancy end, since it distinguishes a spontaneous loss from an induced termination. The word is relatively uncommon in everyday general usage but is widely understood in medical contexts. Its unusual combination of an ordinary figurative meaning and a serious medical meaning makes it a memorable word: the same verb can describe both the collapse of an undertaking and the loss of a pregnancy.
verbTo fail to achieve or carry out an intended action or purpose; to go wrong. In the medical sense, to lose a pregnancy spontaneously before the fetus is viable.
- To fail to achieve an intended result or to go wrong.
- To lose a pregnancy spontaneously before the fetus is viable.
"She miscarried during the first trimester."
"The ambitious project miscarried after months of inadequate funding."
"She miscarried during the first trimester."
A plan can miscarry, but a pregnancy is the context in which the word carries its most immediate and serious meaning.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does miscarry come from?
Miscarry is formed from the prefix mis-, meaning “wrongly” or “badly,” and the word carry. Carry comes through Old North French carier from Latin carrāre, based on the Latin word carrus, meaning a wheeled vehicle. The medical sense developed later from the idea of carrying a pregnancy and failing to carry it to term.
Related word forms
How miscarry is actually used
In general use, the word often has a formal or literary tone and suggests the failure of an undertaking, plan, or attempt. In medical use, it refers specifically to a spontaneous pregnancy loss and is distinct from an induced termination.