1the Virgin BirthThe doctrine of Christ's birth from a mother, Mary, who was a virgin.
count noun‘these voices seem to deny forever the idea of virgin births’
‘Thus, the truth of Mary's perpetual virginity is, like the Virgin Birth, essential Catholic belief.’
‘We will not go into the difference between the immaculate conception and virgin birth.’
‘At school, like my peers, I was indoctrinated in the mysteries of original and venal sin, virgin birth, the respective criteria for entry to limbo, purgatory, and heaven.’
‘Matthew and Luke included accounts of Jesus' virgin birth in their Gospels because, as Thomas Cahill says, they were convinced they were true.’
‘Other than Mary, mother of Jesus, however, few women - whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’ - can boast a virgin birth.’
2Zoology mass nounParthenogenesis.
‘they produce swarms of young by virgin birth’
‘These so-called virgin births are common in invertebrates like snails, but are unusual in higher vertebrates.’
‘The bonnethead shark and bamboo shark are from different families; the bonnethead suspected of a virgin birth gave birth to a live pup, rather than laying eggs as the bamboo shark had.’
‘It was a virgin birth: She hadn't been near a male for six years.’
‘It would be looking at why girls of 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 years of age are having abortions or having children today - and I can tell members they have not had virgin births.’
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