reproduce
Americanverb (used with object)
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to make a copy, representation, duplicate, or close imitation of.
to reproduce a picture.
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to produce again or anew by natural process.
to reproduce a severed branch.
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Biology. to produce one or more other individuals of (a given kind of organism) by some process of generation or propagation, sexual or asexual.
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to cause or foster the reproduction of (organisms).
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to produce, form, make, or bring about again or anew in any manner.
- Synonyms:
- repeat
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to recall to the mind or have a mental image of (a past incident, scene, etc.), as by the aid of memory or imagination.
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to produce again, as a play produced at an earlier time.
verb (used without object)
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to reproduce its kind, as an organism; propagate; bear offspring.
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to turn out in a given manner when copied.
This picture will reproduce well.
verb
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to make a copy, representation, or imitation of; duplicate
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(also intr) biology to undergo or cause to undergo a process of reproduction
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to produce or exhibit again
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to bring back into existence again; re-create
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to bring before the mind again (a scene, event, etc) through memory or imagination
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(intr) to come out (well, badly, etc), when copied
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to replace (damaged parts or organs) by a process of natural growth; regenerate
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to cause (a sound or television recording) to be heard or seen
Synonym Usage
See imitate.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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reproducernoun
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reproducibilitynoun
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reproducibleadjective
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self-reproducingadjective
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reproduciblyadverb
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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reproducesimple
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reproducessimple
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have reproducedperfect
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has reproducedperfect
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am reproducingprogressive
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are reproducingprogressive
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is reproducingprogressive
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have been reproducingperfect progressive
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has been reproducingperfect progressive
Past
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reproducedsimple
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had reproducedperfect
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was reproducingprogressive
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were reproducingprogressive
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had been reproducingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of reproduce
Explanation
To reproduce is to make more, either by having babies or creating copies. Parents and copy machines both reproduce. To produce is "to make something," and re means “again,” so reproduce literally means to “produce again.” When animals and plants make more of their own kind, they reproduce. Plants reproduce asexually, and people reproduce through childbirth. You can also reproduce a book by printing more copies or a computer file by copying it. Reproducing always creates more of something.
Vocabulary lists containing reproduce
Inside Out & Back Again
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"CLEP Financial Accounting," Vocabulary from Chapter 16
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Articles on Overfishing
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The effort comes as climate change creates more favourable conditions for mosquitoes to survive and reproduce, increasing concerns about the spread of mosquito-borne diseases.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
These models allowed the team to reproduce the structures in greater detail and develop more accurate explanations for how they formed.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026
Wetter and longer monsoons are giving them more time to reproduce in the tropics.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
At low energies and under conditions of weak spacetime curvature, the equations of Gravity from Entropy reproduce General Relativity.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 21, 2026
Central to Gilbert’s enterprise was the claim that you could reproduce his experiments and confirm his results: his book was, in effect, a collection of experimental recipes.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
The team accomplished this by designing a control Hamiltonian, a carefully planned sequence of fields and pulses that reproduces the effects of quantum measurements.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 3, 2026
The tendency to justify women’s chronic underpayment rather than address it reproduces inefficiencies that come at a high cost to America’s families, organizations and broader economy.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 26, 2026
“Editing is a task that involves creativity and human artisanship. An editor is not just someone who mechanically reproduces a number of steps. They have a sense of storytelling in mind,” said Srinivasan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026
First, there’s antigenic drift, which happens in the genes of the virus over time as the virus reproduces.
From Salon ● Jan. 8, 2026
At the beginning of the fourth month, the first pair reproduces again, but the second pair is not mature enough: three pairs.
From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife
"The Ukrainian army today relies to a large extent on volunteers," she said, arguing products therefore have to be "simple, clear and easily reproduced".
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
Monarch of the Glen, which hangs in the National Galleries of Scotland, is one of the most recognisable and reproduced paintings in British art.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
As a result, it remains highly stable and can be reproduced consistently across different manufacturing batches.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 12, 2026
Thousands were precisely reproduced for the cleaner enclosures of the Maginot’s scientific mission.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 2, 2026
We made sure that certain varieties, having properties we consider desirable, preferentially reproduced.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
The company said in response to the 2024 lawsuit that it stands by its technology and that it is “uninterested in reproducing content in our training set.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
By uncovering this natural "mix and match" system and reproducing its underlying principles in the laboratory, the researchers have established a new strategy for designing future cancer therapies.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026
The idea is that when sterile flies are released into targeted areas, they wold mate with wild screwworm flies and prevent them from reproducing.
From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026
But in reproducing the fragmentary nature of Susanna Kaysen’s memoir, which became a movie starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, the musical never acquires dramatic momentum.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
As time went on, they got better at reproducing.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
