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

Spontaneous generation, or birth without parentage, on the part of small or useless creatures was accepted in early times without question.

From The Arena Volume 18, No. 93, August, 1897 by Various

Spontaneous generation seems almost as great a puzzle as preordination.

From More Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 by Darwin, Francis, Sir

De la Preexistence des Germes et de l'Epigenese," which opens thus:— "Spontaneous generation is only a chimaera.

From Criticism on "The origin of species" by Huxley, Thomas Henry

Spontaneous generation from dead matter is ruled out of court at present.

From A Trip to Venus by Munro, John

Spontaneous generation is, as yet, an imaginative guess, unverified by scientific tests.

From Fragments of science, V. 1-2 by Tyndall, John