false labor
3
5.1
- noun
- /fɔls ˈleɪbər/
- Specialized
:
falso trabajo de parto
- During my pregnancy, I experienced false labor a few times, which was confusing but normal.
- false labor pain
Examples
-
She called her doctor to discuss her symptoms, worried that what she felt might be a sign of false labor.
-
If it is false labor, you will have to take an hour's leave without pay.
Blog text (23) -
At the same time, I didn't want to be that person who goes to the hospital 17 times with false labor, so I was trying to keep my cool.
Blog text (15) -
She says she told guards she was experiencing labor pains, and they told her it was indigestion; later, they took her to the health center where the nurse told her it was false labor.
Blog text (2) -
The nurse explained that the contractions I was having were just false labor and not an indication of imminent delivery.
Synonyms
A painless short tightening of the womb during pregnancy that does not mean labor
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines 'false' (not real) with 'labor' (the onset of contractions/delivery), so its meaning — contractions that mimic real labor but do not lead to childbirth — is directly inferable from the constituents. This compositional pattern is common and often mirrored in other languages, so a B1 learner who knows the two words will very likely understand the MWE.
Etymology
False labor comes from a simple comparison: doctors saw pains that looked like labor but were 'not real', so they called them false. That is why false labor means contractions that do not actually 'start childbirth'.