Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
👶 To have a baby 💡 To create
to give birth

to give birth

35 3.0
To cause a new idea or movement to begin
  • phrasal verb
  • /ɡɪv bɜrθ/
translation icon : dar lugar a
  • That moment, you know, then gave birth to my whole domain business.
  • give birth to ideas
  • give birth to a new idea

The Big Bang that gave birth to people and earth and shit.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • And this technology gave birth to the ICU.

  • But today, this book you just gave birth to this book, it's out there.

  • That team, plus one crazy idea, gave birth to a giant company.

    Evan Carmichael

  • It's about the joy and the pain that gave birth to those words.

    The Words (2012)

  • So he really gave birth to modern chemistry.

  • You must have chaos within you to give birth to a Dancing star.

    Lex Fridman

  • Global warming has given birth to a new scramble for territory and resources among the five Arctic powers.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Italy has long been an agricultural society... but post-war Italy has given birth to an industrial Renaissance.

    Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend (2022)

  • With this context in mind, he returns to the rhetorical rubrics that gave birth to the Civil Rights movement.

    Academic text (1994)

  • The innovative project gave birth to a new approach in renewable energy.

Synonyms

to create
vsto give birth
∞ 1.0

To make something new that does not exist yet

is more about causing something to come into being from its start
to produce
vsto give birth
∞ 2.0

To make something, often in large amounts for sale

focuses on causing a new beginning rather than producing physical goods
to form
vsto give birth
598 1.0

To create a group or organization

applies more widely to causing something to exist, not just shaping structures
to originate
vsto give birth
153 3.8

To start or create something

is about bringing something into existence rather than only starting a process
to spawn
vsto give birth
68 5.5

To make many new things or ideas appear

is about causing a single new thing or movement rather than mass generation
to give rise
vsto give birth
  • Formal
49 3.5

Make something happen

emphasizes originating or inventing rather than merely causing outcomes
to seed
vsto give birth
20 5.6

To add cells or other small things to start growth

means causing the initial existence of something rather than providing a starter
to beget
vsto give birth
19 7.9

To cause something to happen or exist

has a creative angle focused on making something exist, not only causing effects

Antonyms

to destroy
∞ 1.0

Damage something so badly that it cannot be used or fixed

to suppress
176 4.8

To stop public protest by force or by people in power

How Creative

to give birth
35 3.0
to create
∞ 1.0
to inspire
837 3.2
to suggest
∞ 1.6

Surface Forms

give birth infinitive
giving birth present participle
gives birth third person singular
gave birth past
given birth past participle

Morphology

give + birth

The basic meaning (‘to deliver offspring’) is directly derived from combining 'give' (produce/supply) with 'birth' (bring into the world), so a learner who knows both words will readily infer the literal sense. The extended sense (‘to cause an idea/movement to come into existence’) is a straightforward metaphorical extension of that literal meaning and is commonly expressed across languages, so it is also likely to be understandable from the constituents and context.

Etymology

Give birth was used as a strong image for making new things: just as a mother gives a baby at a birth, someone can 'bring' an idea into the world. So, it now means 'to create something new'.