generate
Americanverb (used with object)
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generates,
present (3rd person singular)
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generated,
past participle, past
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generating
present participle
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to bring into existence; cause to be; produce.
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to create by a vital or natural process.
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to create and distribute vitally and profusely.
He generates ideas that we all should consider.
A good diplomat generates good will.
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to reproduce; procreate.
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to produce by a chemical process.
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Mathematics.
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to trace (a figure) by the motion of a point, straight line, or curve.
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to act as base for all the elements of a given set.
The number 2 generates the set 2, 4, 8, 16.
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Linguistics. to produce or specify (a grammatical sentence or other construction or set of constructions) by the application of a rule or set of rules in a generative grammar.
verb (used without object)
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generates,
present (3rd person singular)
-
generated,
past participle, past
-
generating
present participle
verb
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to produce or bring into being; create
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(also intr) to produce (electricity), esp in a power station
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to produce (a substance) by a chemical process
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maths linguistics to provide a precise criterion or specification for membership in (a set)
these rules will generate all the noun phrases in English
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geometry to trace or form by moving a point, line, or plane in a specific way
circular motion of a line generates a cylinder
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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pregenerateverb (used with object)
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intergeneratingadjective
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nongeneratingadjective
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ungeneratedadjective
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ungeneratingadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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generatesimple
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generatessimple
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have generatedperfect
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has generatedperfect
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am generatingprogressive
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are generatingprogressive
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is generatingprogressive
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have been generatingperfect progressive
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has been generatingperfect progressive
Past
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generatedsimple
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had generatedperfect
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was generatingprogressive
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were generatingprogressive
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had been generatingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of generate
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English, from Latin generātus “begotten, produced,” past participle of generāre “to beget”; see genus
Explanation
Generate means produce or create. A good stock pick might generate cash, and a good idea might generate the basis for an Oscar-winning film. Generate and the closely related word generation both come from the Latin word genus, which means "stock or race." Its root, in turn, is the Proto-Indo-European gen-, "to produce, give birth, or beget." Let's say you have two siblings. In that case, your parents' marriage has generated three children. In a hydroelectric power plant, water generates power. And you can get a paper route or babysit if you're looking to generate a little income.
Vocabulary lists containing generate
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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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:
Its ability to generate and regulate internal heat may also help explain how tyrannosaurs survived in colder regions that were inhospitable to many other reptiles.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2026
Residents of Incline Village, Nev., hope a $147,000 reward will generate some answers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
“My best role is to generate knowledge and then partner with the people who are trying to get things going,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
Beyond its successful use of AI in ads, the company is trying to generate returns on that investment with subscriptions for extra features on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
But while other power plants burn oil, gas, or coal to generate the heat that starts the process, nuclear power plants use uranium.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
Manufacturing generates $382 billion a year for California and supports 1.24 million jobs, he said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 19, 2026
"For our experiments, we also rely on PSI's particle accelerator, which generates the world's most intense, continuous muon beams," says Soter.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026
Eastward-shifting ocean evaporation generates warm air that rises into the atmosphere and then migrates north and east, gathering speed and feeding into the subtropical jet stream.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
“A higher mix of usage generates higher revenue and cash flow from existing infrastructure, a helpful offset to the financing and credit worries weighing on the group,” Grelck said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 15, 2026
If there are exact locations in the brain that allow for the ability to hear or to breathe, is there a place that generates human social behavior?
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
I generated a lot of confusion and unnecessary friction as a result.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2026
The collision also would have generated intense heat around the impact site.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
Peter Sparkes, chief executive of the RNLI, said recent events had "generated deliberate misinformation and a misunderstanding about the RNLI".
From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026
History is filled with transformative technologies that generated fears about what they would do to human beings and society.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
They were virtually impossible to cross-pollinate and rarely generated hybrids.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
The asset manager thus moves to a significant overweight position in bonds—particularly those with short to medium maturities—with a view to generating carry returns and building its portfolio, Nizard says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026
Within 24 hours of publication the article became the outlet’s most-read piece of the year, generating more than 2.2 million views on its first day alone.
From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2026
The incidents included the models generating instructions to get around restrictions imposed on them, hiding mistakes and fabricating information.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
In the U.S., homeownership has historically been one of the most accessible paths for generating wealth — but it’s not a sure thing.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
SD-03 continued rolling directly to the center of the roof, where a high-level Sixer wizard sat holding the Orb of Osuvox—the artifact generating the spherical shield around the castle.
From "Ready Player One: A Novel" by Ernest Cline
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.
