Adjacent Words

Generation definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

GENERA'TION, n. The act of begetting; procreation, as of animals.
1. Production; formation; as the generation of sounds or of curves or equations.
2. A single succession in natural descent, as the children of the same parents; hence, an age. Thus we say, the third, the fourth, or the tenth generation. Gen
15:16.
3. The people of the same period, or living at the same time.
O faithless and perverse generation. Luke 9.
4. Genealogy; a series of children or descendants from the same stock.
This is the book of the generations of Adam. Genesis 5.
5. A family; a race.
6. Progeny; offspring.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: all the people living at the same time or of approximately the same age [syn: coevals, contemporaries, generation]
2: group of genetically related organisms constituting a single step in the line of descent
3: the normal time between successive generations; "they had to wait a generation for that prejudice to fade"
4: a stage of technological development or innovation; "the third generation of computers"
5: a coming into being [syn: genesis, generation]
6: the production of heat or electricity; "dams were built for the generation of electricity"
7: the act of producing offspring or multiplying by such production [syn: generation, multiplication, propagation]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 14th century 1. a. a body of living beings constituting a single step in the line of descent from an ancestor b. a group of individuals born and living contemporaneously c. a group of individuals having contemporaneously a status (as that of students in a school) which each one holds only for a limited period d. a type or class of objects usually developed from an earlier type <first of the…new generation of powerful supersonic fighters — Kenneth Koyen> 2. a. the action or process of producing offspring ; procreation b. the process of coming or bringing into being <generation of income> c. origination by a generating process ; production; especially formation of a geometric figure by motion of another 3. the average span of time between the birth of parents and that of their offspring • generational adjective • generationally adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 all the people born at a particular time, regarded collectively (my generation; the rising generation). 2 a single step in descent or pedigree (have known them for three generations). 3 a stage in (esp. technological) development (fourth-generation computers). 4 the average time in which children are ready to take the place of their parents (usu. reckoned at about 30 years). 5 production by natural or artificial process, esp. the production of electricity or heat. 6 a procreation; the propagation of species. b the act of begetting or being begotten. Phrases and idioms: generation gap differences of outlook or opinion between those of different generations. Derivatives: generational adj. Etymology: ME f. OF f. L generatio -onis (as GENERATE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Generation Gen`er*a"tion, n. [OE. generacioun, F. g['e]n['e]ration, 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.) 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.) 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(generations) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A generation is all the people in a group or country who are of a similar age, especially when they are considered as having the same experiences or attitudes. ...the younger generation of Party members... David Mamet has long been considered the leading American playwright of his generation. N-COUNT: with supp 2. A generation is the period of time, usually considered to be about thirty years, that it takes for children to grow up and become adults and have children of their own. Within a generation flight has become the method used by many travellers. N-COUNT 3. You can use generation to refer to a stage of development in the design and manufacture of machines or equipment. ...a new generation of IBM/Apple computers. N-COUNT: N of n 4. Generation is used to indicate how long members of your family have had a particular nationality. For example, second generation means that you were born in the country you live in, but your parents were not. ...second generation Asians in Britain... ADJ: ord ADJ n 5. Generation is also the production of a form of energy or power from fuel or another source of power such as water. Japan has announced plans for a sharp rise in its nuclear power generation. N-UNCOUNT: with supp

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Gen. 2:4, "These are the generations," means the "history." 5:1, "The book of the generations," means a family register, or history of Adam. 37:2, "The generations of Jacob" = the history of Jacob and his descendants. 7:1, "In this generation" = in this age. Ps. 49:19, "The generation of his fathers" = the dwelling of his fathers, i.e., the grave. Ps. 73:15, "The generation of thy children" = the contemporary race. Isa. 53:8, "Who shall declare his generation?" = His manner of life who shall declare? or rather = His race, posterity, shall be so numerous that no one shall be able to declare it.

In Matt. 1:17, the word means a succession or series of persons from the same stock. Matt. 3:7, "Generation of vipers" = brood of vipers. 24:34, "This generation" = the persons then living contemporary with Christ. 1 Pet. 2:9, "A chosen generation" = a chosen people.

The Hebrews seem to have reckoned time by the generation. In the time of Abraham a generation was an hundred years, thus: Gen. 15:16, "In the fourth generation" = in four hundred years (comp. verse 13 and Ex. 12:40). In Deut. 1:35 and 2:14 a generation is a period of thirty-eight years.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jen-er-a'-shun (Latin generatio, from genero, "beget"):

(1) The translation

(a) of dor, "circle," "generation," hence, "age," "period," "cycle": "many generations" (De 32:7);

(b) the people of any particular period or those born about the same time: "Righteous before me in this generation" (Ge 7:1); "four generations" (Job 42:16);

(c) the people of a particular class or sort, with some implied reference to hereditary quality; the wicked (De 32:5; Pr 30:11); the righteous (Ps 14:5; 112:2).

(2) toledhoth, "births," hence

(a) an account of a man and his descendants: "The book of the generations of Adam" (Ge 5:1);

(b) successive families: "The families of the sons of Noah, after their generations" (Ge 10:32);

(c) genealogical divisions: "The children of Reuben .... their generations, by their families" (Nu 1:20); (d) figurative, of the origin and early history of created things: "The generations of the heavens and of the earth" (Ge 2:4).

(3) genea, "a begetting," "birth," "nativity," therefore

(a) the successive members of a genealogy: "All the generations from Abraham unto David" (Mt 1:17);

(b) a race, or class, distinguished by common characteristics, always (in the New Testament) bad: "Faithless and perverse generation" (Mt 17:17);

(c) the people of a period: "This generation shall not pass away" (Lu 21:32);

(d) an age (the average lifetime, 33 years): "Hid for (Greek "from the") ages and (from the) generations" (Col 1:26). The term is also by a figurative transference of thought applied to duration in eternity: "Unto all generations for ever and ever" (Eph 3:21) (Greek "all the generations of the age of the ages").

(4) genesis, "source," "origin": "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ" (Mt 1:1; the American Revised Version, margin "The genealogy of Jesus Christ").

(5) gennema, "offspring," "progeny"; figurative: "O generation of vipers" (Lu 3:7 the King James Version).

(6) genos, "stock," "race," in this case spiritual: "But ye are a chosen generation" (1Pe 2:9; the American Standard Revised Version "an elect race").

Philip Wendell Crannell

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Procreation. 2. Production, formation. 3. Progeny, offspring, succession of descendants. 4. Family, stock, race, breed. 5. Body of equals in age, collection of those of nearly the same age, people of the same age. 6. (Math.) Formation (by movement).

Moby Thesaurus

Platonic year, abiogenesis, aeon, age, age group, annus magnus, archigenesis, authorship, begetting, beginning, biogenesis, birth, blastogenesis, breeding, coinage, conception, concoction, contrivance, contriving, creation, creative effort, crop, crossbreeding, cycle, cycle of indiction, date, day, days, development, devising, digenesis, dissogeny, endogamy, engenderment, epigenesis, epoch, era, establishment, eumerogenesis, fabrication, fathering, formation, formulation, genesis, great year, hatching, heterogenesis, histogenesis, homogenesis, improvisation, inbreeding, inception, indiction, initiation, institution, invention, isogenesis, life, lifetime, linebreeding, making do, merogenesis, metagenesis, mintage, monogenesis, multiplication, origination, orthogenesis, outbreeding, pangenesis, parthenogenesis, period, period of existence, procreation, production, proliferation, propagation, reproduction, spontaneous generation, start, time, times, xenogamy