spontaneous generation

American  

noun

Biology.

1. abiogenesis.

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spontaneous generation British  

noun

1. Also called: abiogenesis.  a theory, widely held in the 19th century and earlier but now discredited, stating that living organisms could arise directly and rapidly from nonliving material

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spontaneous generation Scientific  

1. The supposed development of living organisms from nonliving matter, as maggots from rotting meat. The theory of spontaneous generation for larger organisms was easily shown to be false, but the theory was not fully discredited until the mid-19th century with the demonstration of the existence and reproduction of microorganisms, most notably by Louis Pasteur.

2. Also called abiogenesis

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Etymology

Origin of spontaneous generation

First recorded in 1650–60

Compare meaning

How does spontaneous-generation compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• spontaneous generation vs. biogenesis

Example Sentences

Put another way, the show refutes the idea of the spontaneous generation of masterpieces.

From New York Times • Mar. 8, 2023

The spontaneous generation he witnessed, he argued, was not just the way some creatures reproduced.

From Salon • Jan. 17, 2016

The end of the 19th century saw the fall of spontaneous generation and the rise of the germ theory of disease, though the mechanism of inheritance remained a mystery.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2015

Evolution at this stage was not by natural selection, but by the spontaneous generation of complexity; the Darwinian version came later as information-bearing molecules arose.

From Scientific American • Sep. 24, 2011

Departing from Goedart’s example, she also included eggs, declaring boldly that eggs were the source of every caterpillar despite widespread public belief in spontaneous generation of insects.

From "The Girl Who Drew Butterflies: How Maria Merian's Art Changed Science" by Joyce Sidman