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generation

American  

[jen-uh-ray-shuhn] / ˌdʒɛn əˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

• generations
  plural

1. the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time.

   the postwar generation.

2. the average span of years between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring, reckoned in accordance with various disciplines, as in human population studies, which typically cite a generational range as 20–35 years, and in the classification of Generations X, Y, and Z, which loosely frame periods of 15–20 years.

   Her photo layout shows the hairstyle trends among young men over the past four generations.

3. a group of individuals, most of whom are the same approximate age, having similar ideas, problems, attitudes, etc.

4. a group of individuals belonging to a specific category at the same time.

   Chaplin belonged to the generation of silent-screen stars.

5. a single step in natural descent, as of human beings, animals, or plants.

6. a form, type, class, etc., of objects existing at the same time and having many similarities or developed from a common model or ancestor (often used in combination).

   a new generation of anticancer drugs;

   a third-generation phone.

7. the offspring of a certain parent or couple, considered as a step in natural descent.

8. the act or process of generating or bringing into being; production, manufacture, or procreation.

9. the state of being generated.

10. production by natural or artificial processes; evolution, as of heat or sound.

11. Biology.

    1. one complete life cycle.

    2. one of the alternate phases that complete a life cycle having more than one phase.

       the gametophyte generation.

12. Mathematics. the production of a geometrical figure by the motion of another figure.

13. Physics. one of the successive sets of nuclei produced in a chain reaction.

14. (in duplicating processes, as photocopying, film, etc.) the distance in duplicating steps that a copy is from the original work.

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generation British  

/ ˌdʒɛnəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or process of bringing into being; production or reproduction, esp of offspring

2. 1. a successive stage in natural descent of organisms: the time between when an organism comes into being and when it reproduces

   2. the individuals produced at each stage

3. the normal or average time between two such generations of a species: about 35 years for humans

4. a phase or form in the life cycle of a plant or animal characterized by a particular type of reproduction

   the gametophyte generation

5. all the people of approximately the same age, esp when considered as sharing certain attitudes, etc

6. production of electricity, heat, etc

7. physics a set of nuclei formed directly from a preceding set in a chain reaction

8. (modifier, in combination)

   1. belonging to a generation specified as having been born in or as having parents, grandparents, etc, born in a given country

      a third-generation American

   2. belonging to a specified stage of development in manufacture, usually implying improvement

      a second-generation computer

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generation Scientific  

/ jĕn′ə-rā′shən /

1. 1. All of the offspring that are at the same stage of descent from a common ancestor.

   2. The average interval of time between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring.

2. A form or stage in the life cycle of an organism.

3. See more at alternation of generations

4. The formation of a line or geometric figure by the movement of a point or line.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• intergeneration
  noun
• pregeneration
  noun
• subgeneration
  noun
• generational
  adjective
• generationally
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• generations
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of generation

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English generacioun, from Middle French, from Latin generātiōn- (stem of generātiō ); see generate, -ion

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Explanation

A generation can refer to a group of people who live at the same time and are about the same age. But generation is also the act of creating something, such as income, ideas or kids. In 1965, Pete Townsend, the guitarist of The Who, wrote a song called "My Generation." The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and other popular musicians of the day were called “the Woodstock Generation,” because they performed at a famous music festival in Woodstock, New York. Generation is used in another way when people credit those bands — along with Elvis, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones — with the generation of rock-and-roll culture.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

generation generations

In nuclear physics, criticality refers to the point at which a chain reaction becomes self-sustaining, with each generation of fission reactions producing enough neutrons to maintain the next.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026

Earlier in the week, Banga had dismissed an AFP question on climate policy, saying he was focused instead on creating enough jobs for a generation of young people.

From Barron's ● Oct. 16, 2026

Like many immigrant communities, such as Irish and Italians in the early 20th century, the second generation is doing much better economically than their parents.

From Salon ● Oct. 16, 2026

So why is every generation of managers so certain the kids are worse?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

We had grown up in a similar way, second and third generation, as American as we were Chinese.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Passing down a family business or vacation home might seem like a generous gift to future generations.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Matos, only 38, feels like a bridge between coaching generations.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026

There are five generations of heritage being carried forward by these three young musicians.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026

Although the Natural History Museum acquired it in 1924, its scientific importance went unrecognized for generations.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Darwin’s question was macroscopic: How do organisms transmute information about their features over a thousand generations?

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee

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