engender
Americanverb (used with object)
-
engenders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
engendered,
past participle, past
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engendering
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
engenders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
engendered,
past participle, past
-
engendering
present participle
verb
-
(tr) to bring about or give rise to; produce or cause
-
to be born or cause to be born; bring or come into being
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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engendersimple
-
engenderssimple
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have engenderedperfect
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has engenderedperfect
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am engenderingprogressive
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are engenderingprogressive
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is engenderingprogressive
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have been engenderingperfect progressive
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has been engenderingperfect progressive
Past
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engenderedsimple
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had engenderedperfect
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was engenderingprogressive
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were engenderingprogressive
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had been engenderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of engender
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English, from Old French engendrer, from Latin ingenerāre, from in- en- 1 + generāre “to beget” ( see generate)
Explanation
Engender is a fancy way of saying "to make happen," like when you engender the spirit of teamwork and cooperation by encouraging others and doing your share of the group's work. The verb engender has nothing to do with being male or female, though originally, it did mean "beget, procreate." Today, engender means "to produce or bring about." When students come to class prepared, meaning they've read their assignment, this engenders better class discussions, just as mutual trust and the desire to help each other engenders a meaningful friendship.
Vocabulary lists containing engender
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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:
"This will hopefully engender trust with those organizations that are responsible for preserving these historic documents."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
That debate over the declaration helped engender the equal citizenship amendments added to the 1789 Constitution at the Civil War’s end—specifically, as the Supreme Court recounts, in the 14th Amendment’s first sentence repudiating Dred Scott.
From Slate ● Jul. 24, 2026
It could engender pride and joy at your stealthy maneuvers, indifference, resentment or using the friendship as collateral for a loan.
From MarketWatch ● May 26, 2026
“Judges should not have to worry when they rule against the president that the ruling will engender real personal threats,” Vladeck concluded.
From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2026
If thinking were enough to engender the new science it would have begun not with Galileo but with the fourteenth-century philosopher Nicholas Oresme.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
In some ways the movie treads similar ground as “You Can See Everything,” both films taking shape as dramas of documentary-making and the ethical and personal conflicts it engenders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
He says the hope it engenders can not only help people cope emotionally with a cancer diagnosis but can even motivate them to seek treatment.
From Slate ● Mar. 29, 2026
And all of this neglect engenders heartache as much as it does violence, creating a cyclical link between the two that “Bugonia” sits firmly in the center of.
From Salon ● Oct. 31, 2025
Deciding what content is acceptable on social media platforms "engenders considerable debate among reasonable people about where to draw the correct proverbial line," X said.
From BBC ● Jun. 17, 2025
The silence this stigma engenders among family members, neighbors, friends, relatives, co-workers, and strangers is perhaps the most painful—yet least acknowledged—aspect of the new system of control.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
These include the shifts in audience habits engendered by the pandemic and the explosion of streaming, which has seen viewers choosing to stay on the couch.
From Barron's ● Apr. 13, 2026
Warren Buffett’s explanation of why the conglomerate held on to businesses that more “Darwinian” investors might have cut loose made sense—it engendered valuable goodwill.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 22, 2026
For some, this has engendered a sense of paralysis.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2025
This passion, more than any syllabus, is what engendered my own dedication.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2025
The crusade to create a chemically sterile, insect-free world seems to have engendered a fanatic zeal on the part of many specialists and most of the so-called control agencies.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
And Kenny Scharf’s cartoon-infused painting and sculpture are paeans to arrested development that are about as capable of engendering childlike wonder as a tax return.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 21, 2025
The fact that Tilly Norwood and the company behind ChatGPT are simultaneously engendering such controversy is not a coincidence: This is an existential moment for human-created entertainment as we know it.
From Slate ● Oct. 1, 2025
Occasionally, I wished that the emphasis would have shifted more to the drama than to the religious feeling it was engendering in the company.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 2023
At the same time, she said, women are afraid to speak out publicly for fear of losing sponsors or engendering a social-media backlash.
From Washington Times ● May 2, 2023
The crowds of novices being escorted to the top for a fee, huffed Sir Edmund, “were engendering disrespect for the mountain.”
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
