GENERATION

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does generation mean? 

• GENERATION (noun)
  The noun GENERATION has 7 senses:

1. all the people living at the same time or of approximately the same age

2. group of genetically related organisms constituting a single step in the line of descent

3. the normal time between successive generations

4. a stage of technological development or innovation

5. a coming into being

6. the production of heat or electricity

7. the act of producing offspring or multiplying by such production

  Familiarity information: GENERATION used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GENERATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

All the people living at the same time or of approximately the same age

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

coevals; contemporaries; generation

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

people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)

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

youth culture (young adults (a generational unit) considered as a cultural class or subculture)

peer group (contemporaries of the same status)

Derivation:

generational (of or relating to a generation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Group of genetically related organisms constituting a single step in the line of descent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

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

biological group (a group of plants or animals)

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

posterity (all future generations)

baby-boom generation; baby boom (the larger than expected generation in United States born shortly after World War II)

gen X; generation X (the generation following the baby boom (especially Americans and Canadians born in the 1960s and 1970s))

Derivation:

generate (make (offspring) by reproduction)

generational (of or relating to a generation)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The normal time between successive generations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Context example:

they had to wait a generation for that prejudice to fade

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

period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A stage of technological development or innovation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Context example:

the third generation of computers

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

phase; stage (any distinct time period in a sequence of events)

Derivation:

generate (bring into existence)

generational (of or relating to a generation)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A coming into being

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

generation; genesis

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

beginning (the event consisting of the start of something)

Derivation:

generate (make (offspring) by reproduction)

generate (bring into existence)

Sense 6

Meaning:

The production of heat or electricity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

dams were built for the generation of electricity

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

production ((economics) manufacturing or mining or growing something (usually in large quantities) for sale)

Derivation:

generate (produce (energy))

generate (give or supply)

Sense 7

Meaning:

The act of producing offspring or multiplying by such production

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

generation; multiplication; propagation

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

breeding; facts of life; procreation; reproduction (the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring)

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

biogenesis; biogeny (the production of living organisms from other living organisms)

Derivation:

generate (make (offspring) by reproduction)

 Context examples 

A first generation monoethanolamine with antihistaminic property.

(Monoethanolamine, NCI Thesaurus)

This suggested that the immunising RNA fragments were being passed among colony members as well as across generations.

(Discovery of RNA transfer through royal jelly could aid development of honey bee vaccines, University of Cambridge)

Under the right conditions, evolution can lead to adaptive shifts in just five or 10 generations.

(Twenty-one species adapted to disappear in the snow. Then, the snow disappeared, National Science Foundation)

A second-generation murine monoclonal antibody based on the antibody B72.3 that is directed against tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG72).

(Monoclonal Antibody CC49, NCI Thesaurus)

A second-generation murine monoclonal antibody based on the monoclonal antibody B72.3 and directed against tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG72).

(Monoclonal Antibody CC-92, NCI Thesaurus)

New instruments bring more sensitivity and new techniques, and the story becomes clearer with each new generation of observatories.

(Spitzer Studies a Stellar Playground With a Long History, NASA)

Second generation of antisense agents with segments of modified phosphorothioate oligonucleotides.

(Mixed-Backbone Oligonucleotide, NCI Thesaurus)

A second-generation murine monoclonal antibody based on monoclonal antibody B72.3 and directed against tumor-associated glycoprotein 72 (TAG72).

(Monoclonal Antibody CC-83, NCI Thesaurus)

The researchers recreated this genomic merger by crossing the two ancient peanuts species and analyzing the results in seven generations of offspring plants.

(Peanut Genome Sequenced with Unprecedent Accuracy, U.S. Department of Agriculture)

Other studies have also shown glucosamine to reduce the generation of reactive oxygen species by macrophages, and inhibit lysosomal enzymes.

(MSM/Glucosamine, NCI Thesaurus)