English Explanatory Dictionary

nativity

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Someone's birth; the place, time and circumstances of a birth.
  2. Someone's birth considered as a means of astrology; a horoscope associated with a person's birth.
  3. The birth of Jesus.
  4. 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.
  5. A set of figurines used to create a nativity scene.
  6. Origin; founding.
  7. Place of origin; place to which a species is native.
  8. The quality of being native or innate.
name
  1. The birth of Jesus as described in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.
  2. Christmas.

Pronunciation

/nəˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/ /neɪˈtɪv.ɪ.ti/ en-us-nativity.ogg /neːˈʈɪ.ʋɪ.ʈiː/ /ˈneː.ʈɪ.ʋɪ.ʈiː/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Nativity.wav

Word forms

nativity nativities the Nativity

Etymology

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.

Related words

natal natality native calvary

Derived words

nativity play nativity scene snaketivity

Translations

Bulgarian: рождение Ido: nasko Italian: natività Latin: nativitas Maltese: twelied Polish: narodzenie Romanian: naștere Romanian: natalitate Russian: рожде́ние Russian: ме́сто рожде́ния Spanish: navidad Spanish: nacimiento Turkish: doğum Turkish: doğuş Turkish: doğma Turkish: tevellüt Turkish: veladet
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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