GERMINATION

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does germination mean? 

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

1. the process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow

2. the origin of some development

  Familiarity information: GERMINATION used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GERMINATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

germination; sprouting

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

development; growing; growth; maturation; ontogenesis; ontogeny ((biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level)

Derivation:

germinate (produce buds, branches, or germinate)

germinate (cause to grow or sprout)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The origin of some development

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Context example:

the germination of their discontent

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

inception; origin; origination (an event that is a beginning; a first part or stage of subsequent events)

Derivation:

germinate (cause to grow or sprout)

 Context examples 

Germination results in lysis and destruction of surrounding viable tumor cells.

(Clostridium Novyi-NT Spores, NCI Thesaurus)