nativity
UK/nəˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
India/neːˈʈɪ.ʋɪ.ʈiː/
nativity noun: someone's birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth.
Noun
nativity (countable and uncountable, plural nativities)
- Someone's birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth.
- […] me semeth to be a souerayn wele to Incyte & exhorte men & wymmen to kepe them from slouthe & ydlenesse & to lete to be vnderstonden to suche peple as been not lettered the natyuytees, lyues, the passyons, the myracles and the dethe of the holy saynts […]1483, William Caxton, Prologue to The Golden Legend, The Holbein Society’s Fac-simile Reprints, London: The Holbein Society, 1878
- I have served him from the hour of my nativity to this instant, and have nothing at his hands for my service but blows.c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- Someone's birth considered as a means of astrology; a horoscope associated with a person's birth.
- You ſtarres that raignd at my natiuitie, / whoſe influence hath alotted death and hel, / Now draw vp Fauſtus like a foggy miſt, / Into the intrailes of yon labring cloude, / That when you vomite foorth into the ayre, / My limbes may iſſue from your ſmoaky mouthes, / So that my ſoule may but aſcend...1589–1592 (date written), Ch[ristopher] Marl[owe], The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. […], London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Thomas Bushell, published 1604, →OCLC, signature F2, verso
- One Mischief always introduces another: These Terrors and Apprehensions of the People, led them into a Thousand weak, foolish, and wicked Things, which, they wanted not a Sort of People really wicked, to encourage them to; and this was running about to Fortune tellers, Cunning men, and Astrologers...1722 March, H[enry] F[oe] [pseudonym; Daniel Defoe], A Journal of the Plague Year: […], London: […] E[lizabeth] Nutt […]; J. Roberts […]; A. Dodd […]; and J. Graves […], →OCLC, page 32
- The birth of Jesus.
- […] towards the end of dinner […] there is an hymn sung, varied according to the invention of him that composeth it […] but the subject of it is (always) the praises of Adam and Noah and Abraham; whereof the former two peopled the world, and the last was the Father of the Faithful: concluding ever...1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “New Atlantis. A Worke Vnfinished.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn]...
- Now we nowhere find warrant in Scripture for setting apart the day of Christ’s Nativity from common use to religious holy use.1669, John Davenport, God’s Call to His People
- The festival celebrating the birth of Jesus, Christmas Day; the festival celebrating the birth of the Virgin Mary or the birth of Saint John the Baptist.
- Be it therefore enacted by the authority of this present parliament, that the said statute of repeal, and every thing therein contained […] shall be void and of none effect, from, and after the feast of the Nativity of S. John Baptist, next coming.1559, “An Act for the uniformity of Common Prayer, and Service in the Church, and the administration of the Sacraments”, in William Keatinge Clay, editor, Liturgical Services: Liturgies and...
- Alsoe I give to the poore of the parish of Christchurch The some of Sixe poundes to be disposed of in this sorte that is to saie, three poundes thereof in Bread on the daie of my funeralle and the other three poundes in bread alsoe on the feast of the Nativitie of our lord then next followinge […]1624, will of Edmond Heywood of the parish of Christchurch London, cited in Katharine Lee Bates, “A Conjecture as to Thomas Heywood’s Family,” The Journal of English and German Philology, Volume 12...
- A set of figurines used to create a nativity scene.
- He would think of us when he was abroad and in all sorts of places where a daddy might reasonably forget his little boys; he brought us back delightful flat tin soldiers marching, cooking, camping, in oval wood boxes from Paris, and entertaining earthenware Nativities with kings, shepherds, and...1926, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “§ 4. The End of a Swindler.”, in The World of William Clissold: A Novel at a New Angle […], 1st American edition, volume I, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran...
- Origin; founding.
- […] ’tis justly to be apprehended, that persecutions will put a speedy period to the Protestant religion in the place of its nativity.1754, David Hume, Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects, London: A. Millar, 3rd edition, Volume 4, Discourse 11, “Of the Protestant Succession,” p. 247
- There is a certain wine of France known in England in some gaseous disguise, but when drunk in the land of its nativity still as a pool, clean as river water, and as heady as verse.1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Swiss Notes, 4. Stimulation of the Alps” in Essays and Criticisms, Boston: H.B. Turner, 1903, p. 264
- Place of origin; place to which a species is native.
- For a long time I believed the common yarrow to be introduced, as the country had been settled at least ten years before I saw it, but my belief in that is shaken, as I never sent for flowers by friends, when they went to an unknown region, but they inevitably brought yarrow. I have had it sent...1887, A. L. Slosson, “Personal Observations upon the Flora of Kansas”, in Transactions of the Annual Meetings of the Kansas Academy of Science, volume 11, page 21
- The specimens of crystals and other hard stones, which were worked both in India and China, the style determining their nativity, are equally choice.1900, Arthur Hewitt, “The Nickerson Collection at the Art Institute, Chicago”, in Brush and Pencil, volume 7, page 61
- The quality of being native or innate.
- Much difference of opinion has prevailed with reference to the genuine nativity of this species [Vinca minor] in Britain.1849, Hewett Cottrell Watson, Cybele Britannica, or British Plants and their Geographical Relations, London: Longman, Volume 2, p. 166,[]
- The most important fact to note in Berkeley’s position is his argument to exclude the nativity of the visual perception of the third dimension.1903, James H. Hyslop, “Binocular Vision and the Problem of Knowledge”, in American Journal of Psychology, volume 14, page 312
Proper noun capitalized: Nativity
the Nativity
nativity meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
nativity in Tamil
- பிறப்பிடம்
nativity in Urdu
- nativity
- تولد tavallud
nativity in Bengali
- জন্ম, জন্মের সময়
nativity in Malayalam
- ജനനം, ജന്മസ്ഥലം
More languagesFewer languages
- nativity in Kannada
- ಹುಟ್ಟು
- nativity in Sanskrit
- जातक jātaka, जनुस् janús, जन्मन् jánman
Examples of nativity in a sentence
- And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Ezekiel 16:4:
- […] ‘my good old tutor […] instilled into me enough of knowledge for erecting a scheme of nativity, and therefore will I presently go about it.’1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter 3, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co....
- Occasionally, too, he ventured to bring her some ghostly present—such as a picture of the Madonna and child, or one of those little naked images which are hawked about the streets at the nativity.1835, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Martin Franc and the Monk of St. Anthony”, in Outre-Mer: A Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea, volume I, New...
- And it is surprising to see with what alacrity the date was received and the Nativity celebrated throughout Christendom.1894, Henry van Dyke, The Christ-Child in Art: A Study of Interpretation, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 61:
Forms of nativity
| plural | nativities |
|---|
Origin of nativity
From Middle English nativite, from Anglo-Norman nativite, Middle French nativite, and their source, Latin nātīvitās (“birth”). By surface analysis, native + -ity. See also naïveté.
See nativity.
Words formed from nativity
Phrases with nativity
Words that rhyme with nativity
- activity
- privity
- relativity
- normativity
- binormativity
- hectivity
- homonormativity
- snacktivity
- transnormativity
- affectivity
- allonormativity
- cisheteronormativity
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about nativity
- What does nativity mean?
- Nativity means someone's birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth.
- What is nativity in Tamil?
- Nativity in Tamil is பிறப்பிடம். See Nativity meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use nativity in a sentence?
- And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
- What part of speech is nativity?
- Nativity can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce nativity?
- Nativity is pronounced /nəˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/ (UK).
- What is the plural of nativity?
- The plural of nativity is nativities.
Words near nativity in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nativity (page history and authors); Nativity (page history and authors); nativity (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); تولد (Urdu) (page history and authors); nativity (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nativity (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nativity (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); जनुस् (Sanskrit) (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-nativity.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nativity.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nativity. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.