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Glite Dictionary
virgin birth

virgin birth

5 8.8
Becoming pregnant when a woman has not had sex
  • noun
  • /ˈvɜrdʒɪn bɜrθ/
  • NSFW
translation icon : nacimiento virginal
  • Belief in a virgin birth is NOT compatible with science, you know.
  • the virgin birth of Jesus
  • the virgin birth story

But that doesn't in any way increase my trust in the validity of Christian propositions like the resurrection, the virgin birth and miracles.

Examples

  • The virgin birth of Christ.

    Rogue Saints (2012)

  • This is probably the one and only virgin birth there ever was.

    Blog text (19)

  • The virgin birth was a fable.

    Academic text (2018)

  • To those who don't believe in a Creator, the virgin birth of God in human flesh is beyond human comprehension.

    Blog text (5)

  • Later, this fiction evolved further into the idea of the virgin birth—that Mary conceived Jesus without a natural father.

    Blog text (12)

  • Many Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus as a miraculous occurrence.

  • The doctrine of the virgin birth is central to the belief in the divinity of Christ.

  • Historically, the concept of virgin birth has been found in various cultures and mythologies.

Synonyms

parthenogenesis
vsvirgin birth
  • Specialized
1 9.9

An egg grows into a new animal or plant without being fertilized

refers to human conception without sexual intercourse, usually presented as a religious miracle
parthenogeny
vsvirgin birth
  • Specialized
9.9

A way an egg grows into a new animal or plant without being fertilized

is about human conception without sexual intercourse, often linked to religious belief

Surface Forms

virgin birth singular
virgin births plural

Morphology

virgin + birth

The meaning is directly compositional: 'virgin' (a person who has never had sex) modifies 'birth' (the process of being born), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer a birth involving a virgin. The concept is expressed similarly across many languages and has no idiomatic or highly metaphorical shift, so its sense is transparent from the constituents.

Etymology

Virgin birth comes from old religious stories. One popular story says a woman called a virgin, a woman who has not had sex, became pregnant and gave birth without a man, as in the story of Mary in Christianity. So today 'virgin birth' means 'becoming pregnant without having sex'.