Word.ws English Dictionary

mothering

mothering noun: the nurturing of a child by its mother. Also the clipping of a-mothering.

Noun

mothering (countable and uncountable, plural motherings)

  1. The nurturing of a child by its mother.
    • The unification or bringing together of disparate things […] which Mrs Ramsay seeks to achieve by marryings and motherings […]1996, Rachel Bowlby, Feminist Destinations and Further Essays on Virginia Woolf
  2. The protective behavior of a mother towards her child.
  3. Nurturing or protective behavior reminiscent of that performed by a literal mother.
    • The institution in the past has done monumental work harboring the homeless, mothering the homeless, mothering the motherless, caring for the poor and dependent1912, “The Mother's Pension Law”, in The Journal of the International Brotherhood of Boiler Makers, volume 24, page 1025
    • He began pounding her with endless questions: “Are you happy? Why don’t you speak? Am I boring you?” She glowed into love, smiled, kissed him, fondled him like a mother. The male resents this mothering in his depth. It shields the home. The conquered woman turns back as a mother to draw him in...1930 (date written), Dane Rudhyar, Rania: An Epic Narrative, San Francisco, Calif.: Unity Press, published spring 1973, →ISBN, page 71

Also used as

mothering is also the clipping of a-mothering.

mothering is also the present participle and gerund of mother.

Examples of mothering in a sentence

  • The male resents this mothering in his depth.1930 (date written), Dane Rudhyar, Rania: An Epic Narrative, San Francisco, Calif.: Unity Press, published spring 1973, →ISBN, page 71:
  • "If we must choose between teaching and mothering," says one teacher, "we take care of mothering first."1970 July 31, Leonard McCombe, “Big business tangles with day care problems”, in LIFE magazine, page 45:

Forms of mothering

pluralmotherings

Origin of mothering

By surface analysis, mother + -ing.

Words formed from mothering

Phrases with mothering

Questions about mothering

What does mothering mean?
Mothering means the nurturing of a child by its mother.
How do you use mothering in a sentence?
The male resents this mothering in his depth.
What part of speech is mothering?
Mothering is a noun.
What is the plural of mothering?
The plural of mothering is motherings.

Words near mothering in the dictionary

  1. motherhouses
  2. motherhumper
  3. motherhumpers
  4. motherin'
  5. motheriness
  6. mothering
  7. Mothering Day
  8. Mothering Sunday
  9. mothering up
  10. mothering-cake
  11. mothering-cakes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mothering (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “mothering.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mothering. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.