confinement
4
7.6
- noun
- /kənˈfaɪnmənt/
- Archaic
:
puerperio
- Carrie told me all about her confinement.
Examples
-
Were you ill-treated during your confinement?
-
The doctor visited daily to check on her health during her confinement.
-
I cannot spend my confinement in here.
-
So for his case, he split it into two weeks after I gave birth and then two weeks after our confinement nanny left.
-
When her confinement is due, send to Moscow for a doctor.
-
My mother had a sister in a faraway town, and there I spent the months of my confinement.
Fiction book (1997) -
"Meg has entered her confinement, "and poor Amy must stay in Vevey with Aunt March."
-
In the middle of October, Brita took the train from Joensuu to stay with her daughter through her confinement.
Fiction book (1992) -
During her confinement, she focused on preparing for the arrival of her baby.
-
As the time of her confinement approached, she made sure everything was ready for the new baby.
Synonyms
204
3.5
A woman's time of having a baby, from the first pains to the baby being born
82
2.3
The time when a woman has a baby
80
3.0
Giving birth to a baby
34
3.3
The act of giving birth to a baby
1
9.9
The process of childbirth and the period of bed rest after birth
The time when a person or animal gives birth
The time when a woman gives birth and the period just after birth
Compounds
37
7.0
Guards keep a prisoner alone and away from other prisoners as punishment or for safety
Surface Forms
Morphology
confinement = confine (semi-transparent) = con + fine + ment
The base word 'confine' is clear, but the specific meaning related to childbirth is specialized.
Etymology
Confinement for childbirth comes from the same root finis 'boundary' and the old practice of keeping a woman inside or apart while she had a baby. So confinement came to mean the period when a woman is in labor or is kept at home for the birth.