generation

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See also Generation, and génération

Contents

English [edit]

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Etymology [edit]

From Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre, present active infinitive of generō (“to beget, generate”). Compare generate.

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

generation (plural generations)

  1. The fact of creating something, or bringing something into being; production, creation. [from 14th c.]
    • 1832, Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology, II:
      The generation of peat, when not completely under water, is confined to moist situations.
  2. The act of creating a living creature or organism; procreation. [from 14th c.]
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.10:
      So all things else, that nourish vitall blood, / Soone as with fury thou doest them inspire, / In generation seek to quench their inward fire.
    • 1626, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum:
      Generation by Copulation (certainly) extendeth not to Plants.
  3. (now US regional) Race, family; breed. [from 14th c.]
    • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, First Folio 1623, I.3:
      Thy Mothers of my generation: what's she, if I be a Dogge?
  4. 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.]
    This is the book of the generations of Adam - Genesis 5:1
    Ye shall remain there [in Babylon] many years, and for a long season, namely, seven generations - Baruch 6:3
    All generations and ages of the Christian church - Richard Hooker
  5. (obsolete) Descendants, progeny; offspring. [15th-19th c.]
  6. 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.]
    • 2008, Edgar Thorpe, Objective English:
      Before the independence of India the books of Dr P. K. Yadav presented a fundamental challenge to the accepted ideas of race relations that, two generations later, will be true of the writings of the radical writers of the 1970s.
  7. A set stage in the development of computing or of a specific technology. [from 20th c.]
    • 2009, Paul Deital, Harvey Deital and Abbey Deital, iPhone for Programmers:
      The first-generation iPhone was released in June 2007 and was an instant blockbuster success.
  8. (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; 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.

Derived terms [edit]

Related terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

origination by some process; formation
act of generating or begetting; procreation
that which is generated or brought forth
period of around thirty years
single step in the succession of natural descent
race, kind, family
geometry
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External links [edit]

Anagrams [edit]

Middle French [edit]

Noun [edit]

generation f (plural generations)

  1. generation (procreation; begetting)

Swedish [edit]

Noun [edit]

generation c

  1. a generation

Declension [edit]

Declension of generation
singular plural
Common indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative generation generationen generationer generationerna
genitive generations generationens generationers generationernas

Related terms [edit]

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