GENERATION

generation, multiplication, propagation

(noun) the act of producing offspring or multiplying by such production

generation

(noun) the production of heat or electricity; “dams were built for the generation of electricity”

genesis, generation

(noun) a coming into being

generation

(noun) group of genetically related organisms constituting a single step in the line of descent

coevals, contemporaries, generation

(noun) all the people living at the same time or of approximately the same age

generation

(noun) the normal time between successive generations; “they had to wait a generation for that prejudice to fade”

generation

(noun) a stage of technological development or innovation; “the third generation of computers”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

generation (countable and uncountable, plural generations)

The fact of creating something, or bringing something into being; production, creation. [from 14th c.]

The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation. [from 14th c.]

(now, US, dialectal) Race, family; breed. [from 14th c.]

A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or degree in genealogy, the members of a family from the same parents, considered as a single unit. [from 14th c.]

(obsolete) Descendants, progeny; offspring. [15th-19th c.]

The average amount of time needed for children to grow up and have children of their own, generally considered to be a period of around thirty years, used as a measure of time. [from 17th c.]

A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology. [from 20th c.]

(geometry) The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude, by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.

A specific age range whose members can relate culturally to one another.

A version of a form of pop culture which differs from later or earlier versions.

(television) A copy of a recording made from an earlier copy and thus further degraded in quality.

Hyponyms

(Hyponyms of generation (noun)):

• alternate generation

• Beat Generation

• Facebook generation

• Generation Jones

• Generation X

• Generation Y

• Generation Z

• Greatest Generation

• lost generation

• me generation

• MSN generation

• MTV generation

• next generation

• sandwich generation

• Silent Generation

• spontaneous generation

• Stolen Generation

Anagrams

• renegation

Source: Wiktionary

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Gen`er*a"tion, n. Etym: [OE. generacioun, F. génération, fr.L. generatio.]

1. The act of generating or begetting; procreation, as of animals.

2. Origination by some process, mathematical, chemical, or vital; production; formation; as, the generation of sounds, of gases, of curves, etc.

3. That which is generated or brought forth; progeny; offspiring.

4. A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or remove in genealogy. Hence: The body of those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from an ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period; also, the average lifetime of man, or the ordinary period of time at which one rank follows another, or father is succeeded by child, usually assumed to be one third of a century; an age. This is the book of the generations of Adam. Gen. v. 1. Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations. Baruch vi. 3. All generations and ages of the Christian church. Hooker.

5. Race; kind; family; breed; stock. Thy mother's of my generation; what's she, if I be a dog Shak.

6. (Geom.)

Definition: The formation or production of any geometrical magnitude, as a line, a surface, a solid, by the motion, in accordance with a mathematical law, of a point or a magnitude; as, the generation of a line or curve by the motion of a point, of a surface by a line, a sphere by a semicircle, etc.

7. (Biol.)

Definition: The aggregate of the functions and phenomene which attend reproduction.

Note: There are four modes of generation in the animal kingdom: scissiparity or by fissiparous generation, gemmiparity or by budding, germiparity or by germs, and oviparity or by ova. Alternate generation (Biol.), alternation of sexual with asexual generation, in which the products of one process differ from those of the other, -- a form of reproduction common both to animal and vegetable organisms. In the simplest form, the organism arising from sexual generation produces offspiring unlike itself, agamogenetically. These, however, in time acquire reproductive organs, and from their impregnated germs the original parent form is reproduced. In more complicated cases, the first series of organisms produced agamogenetically may give rise to others by a like process, and these in turn to still other generations. Ultimately, however, a generation is formed which develops sexual organs, and the original form is reproduced.

– Spontaneous generation (Biol.), the fancied production of living organisms without previously existing parents from inorganic matter, or from decomposing organic matter, a notion which at one time had many supporters; abiogenesis.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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