From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Maternity \Ma*ter"ni*ty\, noun [F. maternit['e], LL. maternitas.]
1. The state of being a mother; motherhood.
2. The character of a mother; maternal quality; motherliness.
3. The maternity ward; the maternity department of a hospital. [PJC]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
maternity \ma*ter"ni*ty\, adjective
1. Of or pertaining to childbirth or the period during which a woman is pregnant; as, maternity care; a maternity hospital. [PJC]
2. For use during pregnancy; as, a maternity outfit. [PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the state of being pregnant; the period from conception to birth when a woman carries a developing fetus in her uterus [syn: {pregnancy}, {gestation}]
2: the kinship relation between an offspring and the mother [syn: {motherhood}]
3: the quality of having or showing the tenderness and warmth and affection of or befitting a mother; "the girl's motherliness made her invaluable in caring for the children" [syn: {motherliness}, {maternalism}, {maternal quality}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
43 Moby Thesaurus words for "maternity": affiliation, agnation, alliance, ancestry, blood, blood relationship, brotherhood, brothership, cognation, common ancestry, common descent, connection, consanguinity, cousinhood, cousinship, enation, fatherhood, filiation, fraternity, kindred, kinship, maternalness, matrilineage, matriliny, matrisib, matrocliny, motherhood, motherliness, mothership, parenthood, paternity, patrilineage, patriliny, patrisib, patrocliny, pregnancy, propinquity, relation, relationship, sibship, sisterhood, sistership, ties of blood
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