Thesaurus.com
Dictionary.com
Definitions

mother

[muhth-er] / ˈmʌð ər /


Frequently Asked Questions

What is another word for mother?
There are many synonyms for mother. The most common is mom, which is an informal, familiar version of mother. The equivalent mum is commonly used in the U.K. and other places. An even more informal and familiar word is mommy, which is especially used by children. A similarly informal word is mama (and its alternate spellings momma and mamma). All of these terms should be capitalized when they’re used as a way of addressing someone (in other words, when they’re used as a name or a substitute for a name). A mother is a parent. A term that specifically references the role of a mother in bearing a child is child-bearer. The term birthing parent is sometimes used as a gender-neutral term in the context of pregnancy and childbirth. A mother who’s the leader of a family might be called a matriarch. Because mothers are traditionally associated with nurture and caregiving, related words are sometimes used as synonyms, such as nurturer and caregiver. Mother is also sometimes used as a verb meaning to care for someone as a mother or like a mother. Sometimes, it’s used in a negative way that implies that a person is smothering or being overbearing toward the person, as in Please don’t mother me—I can take care of myself.
How do you use mother in a sentence?
Mother is most commonly used as a noun, but it can also be a verb. As a noun, it’s capitalized when it’s used as a name or a substitute for a name. Here are some examples of mother in a sentence:
  • I’ve always wanted to be a mother.
  • You should really listen to Mother—she has your best interests in mind.
  • It’s just her nature to try to mother anyone who looks like they need help.

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Meanwhile, Chris’ mother was considering downsizing and had offered her children the opportunity to buy the house she and her husband had built.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2026

Maha Kamal, a Denver family lawyer, joined a custody case on behalf of a mother after the children’s father began peppering the court with filings that accused her of breaking the judge’s orders.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026

His mother, who had not seen him for a decade, told Bushby: “Where have you been?”

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

At 6, Raman and her mother left for the United States on a Pan Am flight, meeting her father who was already here studying engineering.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

“Would you be willing to take a Jewish mother and her baby into your home? They will almost certainly be arrested otherwise.”

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Two other streaming series, “Crystal Lake” on Peacock and “Carrie” on Prime Video, place two of the horror genre’s most famous scary mothers in new contexts.

From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026

Last month, the New York Times revealed that Marshall, a former OB-GYN, had sued hundreds of patients over unpaid bills, including new mothers.

From Slate ● Oct. 29, 2026

Another mother, Seanan Martin, said removing a service was not the answer and that the safety of mothers, babies and staff should be the priority.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

But she and other doctors stress to new mothers that breast-feeding helps women lose pregnancy weight as well.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

They put blue bands on the birds’ legs and wrote down the numbers so Jack could remember the birds’ birthdays and who their mothers and fathers were.

From "Nim’s Island" by Wendy Orr

Playing a childless, vain, pitch-perfect vision of Los Angeles’ wickedness in “Maps to the Stars,” Julianne Moore mothered so hard she almost separated California right down the San Andreas fault line.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

Missing being mothered has driven her to cultivate her Spanish skills, after a college counselor hints that “focusing on a new syntax of any kind could become an escape hatch into new habits of mind.”

From Washington Post ● Mar. 13, 2023

"But she also knew that mother is a verb as well as a noun and mothered so many others along the way who needed love and support throughout her life," she said.

From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2022

Thus has it been since an ailing William Hartnell, who played the First Doctor, transformed into Patrick Troughton, Doctor Two, in 1966 — an invention mothered by necessity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 23, 2022

The desert has mothered magic things before this.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

While mothering her two teenagers, one of them newly identifies as nonbinary — “It was Laurel’s job to not make a big deal about this” — she obsesses about her husband’s questionable fidelity.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2026

Would my mothering improve before the baby was born?

From Slate ● May 10, 2026

“Kin,” set in the segregated South in the 1950s and ’60s, focuses on the crucial importance of mothering, sisterhood and close female friendships in young women’s lives.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 27, 2026

Reflecting on her character's journey in the film, Adams explained: "Through her parenting - through her mothering - she got in touch with something bigger and something primal."

From BBC ● Oct. 16, 2024

Instead, she said to me out of the blue, “You don’t get much mothering, do you?”

From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English


Vocabulary lists containing mother

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training