birth pangs

plural noun

1. pains associated with the process of childbirth.
2. Informal. the hardships and difficulties accompanying a major innovation, change, or new venture.

Word History and Origins

Origin of birth pangs¹

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

Colin adds that despite the franchise's birth pangs, there was a sense within the original team that they were on to something.

From BBC

Among "birth pangs," a "hollow" and "a vacancy," "The Rabbit Catcher" includes objects that resemble umbilical cords.

From Salon

Lemon writes that we may be seeing “the death throes of White supremacy in concert with the birth pangs of racial renaissance.”

From Washington Post

His knack for conveying compositional struggle ingeniously reflects his theme — a nation’s birth pangs.

From Washington Post

“Today’s inequalities are the birth pangs of tomorrow’s technological unemployment,” Susskind writes, and he has a point.

From New York Times