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Glite Dictionary
labor pains

labor pains

1 3.6
Pain a woman feels during childbirth when the womb tightens
  • noun
  • /ˈleɪbər peɪnz/
  • US
translation icon : contracciones
  • As her labor pains grew stronger, she focused on her breathing techniques.
  • felt labor pains

The birth of Seva was not without labor pains.

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Examples

  • Suffering labor pains, Monique Baron Braille, aged 39, had been impatiently awaiting the birth.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The doctor reassured her that the labor pains she was experiencing were normal.

  • Labor pains started within one hour.

    Academic text (2007)

  • This is the kind of woman who suffers unbearable labor pains.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • With each passing minute, the labor pains became more intense, signaling that the baby was on the way.

Synonyms

labor pain
vslabor pains
  • US
1 3.4

Strong pain in the stomach and lower back when a woman gives birth

is identical in meaning but appears as the plural form
birth pangs
vslabor pains
1 5.2

Strong repeated pains a woman feels when she is having a baby

focuses on pains that are intermittent rather than especially sharp

Antonyms

comfort
190 1.0

A feeling of physical ease and being free from pain

painkilling
3.4

That reduces physical pain, often by using medicine

How Painful

labor pains
  • US
1 3.6
labor pain
  • US
1 3.4

Surface Forms

labor pains plural
labour pains plural

Morphology

labor + pain

The meaning 'pain experienced during childbirth' is directly and compositionally derived from 'labor' (childbirth/onset of contractions) + 'pain' (bodily hurt), so a learner who knows both constituent senses can infer the MWE. This noun+noun combination is cross-linguistically common and context (e.g., medical or childbirth setting) disambiguates the possible 'labor' = work sense, making it transparent for a B1 learner.

Etymology

Labor pains comes from the simple image that childbirth is hard physical labor and causes sharp pains as the body works to push the baby out. So labor pains means 'the pains of giving birth'.