offspring
Americannoun
plural
offspring, offsprings-
children or young of a particular parent or progenitor.
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a child or animal in relation to the parent or parents.
-
a descendant.
-
descendants collectively.
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the product, result, or effect of something.
the offspring of an inventive mind.
noun
-
the immediate descendant or descendants of a person, animal, etc; progeny
-
a product, outcome, or result
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.
He also has two adult offspring: Daughter Bo is from a previous relationship with Amanda Rushing; he shares son Spencir, 27, with his first wife.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 3, 2026
When ratifying the amendment in 1868, however, Congress explicitly recognized that it would also apply to the American-born offspring of immigrants.
From Slate • Apr. 1, 2026
Their growing family now includes daughter Myrtle, who is two, and the newest arrival, while two of their older offspring have moved to join groups in other zoos in Europe.
From BBC • Apr. 1, 2026
Epic Fury is the technological and tactical offspring of Desert Storm, whose air campaign was history’s first attempt to achieve the political and military aims of war from the air.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 30, 2026
Heredity, Mendel’s experiments implied, could only be explained by the passage of discrete pieces of information from parents to offspring.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
