gestation

IPA/dʒeˈsteɪʃn/
KK[dʒɛstˈeʃən]IPA/dʒeˈsteɪʃn/

gestation — noun

1. the time during which a baby or young animal grows inside its mother before bein

1.nounC1
Definition

the time during which a baby or young animal grows inside its mother before being born; also the biological process itself.

Example

An elephant's gestation lasts about twenty-two months, longer than any other land mammal.

collocation: gestation lasts + duration

Haruto's wife was in the final weeks of gestation when the typhoon struck Okinawa.

collocation: weeks of gestation

Common collocations
  • gestation period
  • during gestation
  • late gestation
  • early gestation
  • weeks of gestation
Synonyms
  • pregnancy

    everyday word for the same state in humans; non-technical

  • gravidity

    highly technical medical term, rarely seen outside obstetrics journals

Grammar Patterns

period of gestation

gestation of [animal/young]

Usage Note

Almost always uncountable and used in formal, scientific, or medical contexts. Frequently paired with 'period' (gestation period) or a duration ('months/weeks of gestation').

Common Mistakes

My sister is in her third gestation.
My sister is in her third pregnancy.
for human everyday speech use 'pregnancy'; 'gestation' is reserved for scientific or animal contexts.
The dog had two gestations last year.
The dog had two pregnancies last year.
'gestation' as a countable event is unusual; use 'pregnancy' for the countable instance.

2. the slow process by which a thought, plan, or creative work gradually takes shap

2.nounC2
Definition

the slow process by which a thought, plan, or creative work gradually takes shape inside someone's mind before it is shared or finished.

Example

The film spent eight years in gestation before Ignacio finally began shooting it in Buenos Aires.

fixed phrase: in gestation

Long hikes in the mountains helped the novel through its early gestation.

collocation: early gestation (of a creative work)

Common collocations
  • in gestation
  • long gestation
  • years of gestation
  • still in gestation
Synonyms
  • incubation

    near-synonym for the slow mental development of plans; sometimes interchangeable

  • development

    general everyday word; less formal and less metaphorical

Grammar Patterns

in gestation

gestation of [an idea/plan]

Usage Note

Distinguish from sense 1: subject here is an idea, plan, project, novel, or policy — not a living organism. Often appears in the fixed phrase 'in gestation' meaning 'still being developed and not yet ready'.

Common Mistakes

The team had a quick gestation of the proposal in one afternoon.
The team drafted the proposal in one afternoon.
'gestation' implies slow development over weeks, months, or years; it does not fit short timeframes.

Word family

  • gestate
    verbC2
  • gestational
    adjectiveC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All three words describe a developing organism or idea, but they belong to different registers and contexts. 'Pregnancy' is the everyday, neutral term for a human carrying a baby — what a doctor says to a patient and what families say at home. 'Gestation' is more formal and scientific; biologists prefer it when comparing species, and obstetricians use it for clinical measurements like 'thirty-six weeks of gestation'. 'Incubation' applies to eggs (birds, reptiles) and to viruses growing silently before symptoms appear, and is rarely used for mammals. Compare: 'Maria's pregnancy went smoothly' (everyday), 'The dolphin's gestation is nearly twelve months' (scientific), 'Chicken eggs need about twenty-one days of incubation' (eggs only).

gestation ↗pregnancy ↗incubation

Common collocations

Nouns

  • gestation period
  • gestation of an idea

Phrases

  • weeks of gestation
  • late gestation
  • in gestation

Prepositions

  • in gestation
  • during gestation

Etymology

LatinEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early 1500s from Latin 'gestatio', meaning 'a carrying'. The Latin word came from the verb 'gestare', which meant to carry or bear something, especially being carried in a chair or litter. Over time the English meaning narrowed to the carrying of young inside the body, and from the 1800s it was extended figuratively to the slow carrying of an idea in the mind.