- 1[uncountable, singular] the time that the young of a person or an animal develops inside its mother's body until it is born; the process of developing inside the mother's body a baby born at 38 weeks' gestation The gestation period of a horse is about eleven months.
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- 2[uncountable] (formal) the process by which an idea or a plan develops synonym development His book was nearly twenty years in gestation.
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