hatched

verb

past tense of hatch
as in spawned
to cover and warm eggs as the young inside develop the mallards and geese have begun hatching in their nests down by the pond

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of hatched The baby falcons hatched in early May after their falcon parents, Vixen and Dave, nested in a crevice on the second floor of the exterior of Aurora City Hall. — Addison Wright, Chicago Tribune, 13 Aug. 2026 So, along with the viral OnlyFans account, students hatched the plan to run the first-ever Fat Marmot Week. — Maddie Rhodes, USA Today, 11 Aug. 2026 Out of fear of lost revenue, the two allegedly hatched a plan to use mothballs to deter birds from congregating on the beach behind their businesses, authorities said. — Natasha Holt, FOXNews.com, 8 Aug. 2026 For one, Lane visited the World Bird Sanctuary’s captive breeding program for Eurasian Eagle Owls that hatched and raised Flaco and his siblings that are still living in zoos nationwide. — Emma Gometz, Scientific American, 7 Aug. 2026 How businesses have been faring By then, Fritz said, property and business owners along the street had given up on waiting for the project to be finished and had hatched plans to begin promoting a new Flagler Street anyway, Fritz said. — Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 6 Aug. 2026 Its screenplay, which Dolan hatched in collaboration with three others, tries to soft-pedal predictable beats that nonetheless end up the only ones getting beaten. — Dennis Harvey, Variety, 5 Aug. 2026 Charlie hatched at the Maryland Zoo in 1986 and lived at the Georgia Aquarium for decades. — Dan Raby, CBS News, 31 July 2026 These plans have been hatched prior to the final one taking place in less than a month’s time and are understood to have been discussed at a recent roundtable with figures from the local sector. — Max Goldbart, Deadline, 28 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hatched
  1. spawned
  2. incubated
  3. laid
  4. sat
Verb
  • The film’s success spawned several sequels, including Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), and Lethal Weapon 4 (1998).
    — Armando Tinoco, Deadline, 11 Aug. 2026
  • But their approach has also spawned backlash to the backlash, with some calling on McCarty to put a stop to the disruptions.
    — Jennah Pendleton, Sacbee.com, 10 Aug. 2026
Definition of spawned
Verb
  • Hint ended up coming to life after being incubated at Montauk Capital; it’s raised $10 million, and investors include Slow Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, and Brian Kelly (aka the Points Guy—a Stewart bestie who joined yesterday).
    — Emma Hinchliffe, Fortune, 23 July 2026
  • Now the company has incubated a product called Ampersand, built around what Coelho calls the central accountability gap in agentic payments.
    — Aaron Stanley, Forbes.com, 21 July 2026
Definition of incubated
Verb
  • Barboza, who hadn't secured a win since October 2023 and had taken significant damage in recent bouts, laid his gloves down in the octagon.
    — Brian Mazique, Forbes.com, 16 Aug. 2026
  • With the pitch being re-laid, have we finally got rid of the slope?
    — Chris Waugh, New York Times, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of laid
Verb
  • This fine establishment has sat at the same address in the Williamsburg Bridge's shadow since 1887, and the interiors carry about as many frills as your average public house—dark wood, plaster walls, and so on.
    — Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 31 Dec. 2025
  • The birthday boy and his big sister Sterling Skye, 3, each sat between one of their parents’ laps.
    — Angel Saunders, People.com, 24 Dec. 2024
Definition of sat

Browse Nearby Words

hatchbacks
hatched
hatcher
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Hatched.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hatched. Accessed 17 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on hatched

Nglish: Translation of hatched for Spanish Speakers

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

7 Pairs of Commonly Confused Words

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

It's a Scorcher! Words for the Summer Heat

Is “GIF” Pronounced “Jiff” or “Giff”?

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
image of a green cube out of place in a lineup of red spheres
Odd Word Out: Synonyms Vol. 2 Quiz Figure out which word isn't like the others.
See All