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ontogeny

American  
[on-toj-uh-nee] / ɒnˈtɒdʒ ə ni /
Also ontogenesis

noun

Biology.
  1. the development or developmental history of an individual organism.


ontogeny British  
/ ˌɒntəˈdʒɛnɪsɪs, ˌɒntəˈdʒɛnɪk, ˌɒntədʒɪˈnɛtɪk, ɒnˈtɒdʒənɪ /

noun

  1. the entire sequence of events involved in the development of an individual organism Compare phylogeny

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

ontogeny Scientific  
/ ŏn-tŏjə-nē /
  1. The origin and development of an individual organism from embryo to adult.


Other Word Forms

  • ontogenetic adjective
  • ontogenetical adjective
  • ontogenetically adverb
  • ontogenic adjective
  • ontogenically adverb
  • ontogenist noun

Etymology

Origin of ontogeny

First recorded in 1870–75; onto- + -geny

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.

Martin starts rambling off a list of words: thaumatology, ontology, eschatology, epistemology, phenomenology, teleology, etiology, ontogeny.

From Washington Post • Oct. 12, 2020

Distinct routes of lineage development reshape the human blood hierarchy across ontogeny.

From Nature • Jan. 23, 2018

A computational analysis of limb and body dimensions in Tyrannosaurus rex with implications for locomotion, ontogeny, and growth.

From Scientific American • May 24, 2012

It’s as if these two highly esteemed, resolutely quirky filmmakers had been assigned the complementary subjects of ontogeny and eschatology, and responded with their grand, distilled visions.

From Time • Nov. 10, 2011

Hence a knowledge of the nature of an organism presupposes a complete investigation of its characters in their succession during the whole ontogeny.

From A Mechanico-Physiological Theory of Organic Evolution by Nägeli, Carl Von