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adj. 1. Carrying developing offspring within the body. 2. a. Weighty or significant; full of meaning: a conversation occasionally punctuated by pregnant pauses. b. Of great or potentially great import, implication, or moment: "It was a politically pregnant time in Poland" (New York). 3. Filled or fraught; replete: "This was, from the Party's point of view, both deplorable in itself and pregnant with danger for the future" (Robert Conquest). 4. Having a profusion of ideas; creative or inventive. 5. Producing results; fruitful: a pregnant decision. [Middle English, from Old French, from Latin praegnāns, praegnant-, variant of praegnās; see genə- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] pregnant·ly adv. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
adj. Archaic Convincing; cogent. Used of an argument or a proof. [Middle English, probably from Old French preignant, present participle of prembre, to press, from Latin premere; see per-4 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
