FERTILIZATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does fertilization mean? 

• FERTILIZATION (noun)
  The noun FERTILIZATION has 2 senses:

1. creation by the physical union of male and female gametes; of sperm and ova in an animal or pollen and ovule in a plant

2. making fertile as by applying fertilizer or manure

  Familiarity information: FERTILIZATION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FERTILIZATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Creation by the physical union of male and female gametes; of sperm and ova in an animal or pollen and ovule in a plant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

fecundation; fertilisation; fertilization; impregnation

Hypernyms ("fertilization" is a kind of...):

conception; creation (the event that occurred at the beginning of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fertilization"):

pollenation; pollination (transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma of a plant)

cross-fertilisation; cross-fertilization (fertilization by the union of male and female gametes from different individual of the same species)

self-fertilisation; self-fertilization (fertilization by the union of male and female gametes from the same individual)

superfecundation (fertilization of two or more ova released during the same menstrual cycle by sperm from separate acts of coitus (especially by different males))

superfetation (fertilization of a second ovum after a pregnancy has begun; results in two fetuses of different ages in the uterus at the same time)

Derivation:

fertilize (introduce semen into (a female))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Making fertile as by applying fertilizer or manure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

dressing; fecundation; fertilisation; fertilization

Hypernyms ("fertilization" is a kind of...):

enrichment (act of making fuller or more meaningful or rewarding)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fertilization"):

top dressing (a layer of fertilizer or manure not plowed in)

Derivation:

fertilize (provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to)

 Context examples 

In biology, the beginning of pregnancy, marked by fertilization of an egg by a sperm.

(Conception, NCI Dictionary)

You might start the in vitro fertilization process, find out you are expecting, or give birth to your baby now.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Derived from the fertilization of an anuclear ovum by one or sometimes two haploid sperm.

(Complete Hydatidiform Mole, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Almost all chorionic carcinomas form in the uterus after fertilization of an egg by a sperm, but a small number form in a testis or an ovary.

(Chorionic carcinoma, NCI Dictionary)

Almost all choriocarcinomas form in the uterus after fertilization of an egg by a sperm, but a small number form in a testis or an ovary.

(Choriocarcinoma, NCI Dictionary)

Almost all chorioepitheliomas form in the uterus after fertilization of an egg by a sperm, but a small number form in a testis or an ovary.

(Chorioepithelioma, NCI Dictionary)

The branch of cell biology concerned with the cellular changes that take place between fertilization and maturity.

(Developmental Cell Biology, NCI Thesaurus)

The branch of neurobiology concerned with the changes that take place in the nervous system between fertilization and maturity.

(Developmental Neurobiology, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes macrophage-stimulating protein receptor protein, is involved in several biologic processes such as mucociliary function, host defense and fertilization.

(MST1R wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

Derived from the fertilization of an apparently normal ovum by two sperm.

(Partial Hydatidiform Mole, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)