offspring
Americannoun
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children or young of a particular parent or progenitor.
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a child or animal in relation to the parent or parents.
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a descendant.
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descendants collectively.
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the product, result, or effect of something.
the offspring of an inventive mind.
noun
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the immediate descendant or descendants of a person, animal, etc; progeny
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a product, outcome, or result
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of offspring
First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English ofspring; see off, of 1, spring (in the sense “to descend from”)
Explanation
Puppies are the offspring, or children, of a mamma dog. You're the offspring of your biological parents. This is basically another word for children. Baby horses, gorillas, lizards, and humans are all offspring. A woman who gives birth to quadruplets suddenly has a lot of offspring. But this word isn't limited to biological creations — you could say that a project you've been laboring over is your offspring. Albert Einstein's offspring included many groundbreaking theories, and the scientists who followed up on Einstein's ideas are considered his intellectual offspring.
Vocabulary lists containing offspring
It's All in the Family
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Christmas Carol Vocab: A Lyrical Lexicon
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"The Origin of Species by Natural Selection" by Charles Darwin: Essential Words
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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.
Big Bear eagles Jackie and Shadow’s offspring, Sandy and sibling Luna, hatched in April, and millions watched as they hatched.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 28, 2026
Other communication signals may start out serving entirely different purposes, such as helping animals care for offspring or resolve conflicts.
From Science Daily • Jun. 20, 2026
The litany hails him as the renowned offspring of David, who handed Christ a king’s lineage and a contested throne, and calls him the terror of demons and the model of artisans.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 18, 2026
Female screwworm flies produce eggs only once in a lifetime, and once they mate with a sterile male fly, they’re done with their reproduction cycle without having any offspring.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 10, 2026
Matthias joined in the laughter as Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel thanked Basil for the generous gift to their tiny offspring.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
