fetal

adjective

fe·​tal ˈfē-tᵊl 

: of, relating to, or being a fetus

Examples of fetal in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Dobbs has made that balance harder to maintain by inviting fetal-personhood principles into areas of law that had not previously treated fetuses or embryos as persons. — Naomi Cahn, The Conversation, 9 Oct. 2026

Functional connectivity in the fetal brain develops substantially later in gestation, with measurable differences in brain activity and facial responses to noxious versus innocuous stimulation appearing at approximately 33 weeks. — Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026

Of those, several found modest associations linking the mother’s use of her phone with adverse measures of fetal growth. — New Atlas, 24 Sep. 2026

The findings therefore point specifically to an association with birthweight rather than demonstrating that rare earth exposure causes restricted fetal growth. — Bojan Stojkovski, Interesting Engineering, 21 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1736, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing fetal

• fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
• fetal alcohol syndrome
• fetal hemoglobin
• fetal position

Rhymes for fetal

• beetle
• foetal
• centripetal
• decretal
• varietal

Kids Definition

fetal

adjective

fe·​tal ˈfēt-ᵊl 

: of, relating to, or being a fetus

Medical Definition

fetal

adjective

fe·​tal

variants or chiefly British foetal

ˈfēt-ᵊl 

: of, relating to, or being a fetus