miscarriage

Etymology

From mis- +‎ carriage.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪskaɹɪdʒ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪs.kɛɹ.ədʒ/, /ˈmɪs.kæɹ.ədʒ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

miscarriage (countable and uncountable, plural miscarriages)

1. (now rare except in miscarriage of justice) A failure; a mistake or error. [from 16th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.ii:

     for feare least blame / Of her miscarriage should in her be fond, / She wist not how t'amend, nor how it to withstond.

2. The spontaneous natural termination of a pregnancy; the fatal expulsion of a foetus from the womb before term. [from 17th c.]