Incubation - Definition, Meaning Synonyms | Vocabulary. com An incubation period is when a disease takes hold and produces symptoms — and it's also the phase of an egg getting ready to hatch The egg meaning of incubation is the original one — the word is derived from the Latin incubare, "to hatch "
INCUBATION | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary incubation noun [U] (OF DISEASE) the process or period of time in which harmful bacteria or viruses increase in size or number in a person's or animal's body but do not yet produce the effects of disease: