palingenesis

American  

[pal-in-jen-uh-sis] / ˌpæl ɪnˈdʒɛn ə sɪs /

noun

1. rebirth; regeneration.

2. Biology.

   1. embryonic development that reproduces the ancestral features of the species.

   2. Obsolete. the supposed generation of organisms from others preformed in the germ cells.

3. baptism in the Christian faith.

4. the doctrine of transmigration of souls.

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palingenesis British  

/ ˌpælɪnˈdʒɛnɪsɪs /

noun

1. Christianity spiritual rebirth through metempsychosis of Christian baptism

2. biology another name for recapitulation

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Other Word Forms

• palingenesian
  adjective
• palingenetic
  adjective
• palingenetically
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of palingenesis

1615–25; < New Latin < Greek pálin again + génesis genesis

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

palingenesis

The plot is a palingenesis of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

From Time Magazine Archive

Two portions she designates, the Telemachiad and the Ulyssiad, which really belong together, showing the spiritual palingenesis, or internal renovation of son and father ere they proceed to the renovation of their country.

From Homer's Odyssey A Commentary by Denton Jaques Snider

It is precisely in relation to the palingenesis of Humanity that, to the unseen Will, one day is said to be as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

From Such Is Life by Joseph Furphy

After having spoken of natural palingenesis, he concludes—"And thus we see how little cause there is to attribute these appearances to the return of souls to earth, or to demons, as do some ignorant persons."

From The Phantom World or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c, &c. by Henry Christmas

Under palingenesis we count those facts of embryology that we can directly regard as a faithful synopsis of the corresponding stem-history.

From The Evolution of Man — Volume 2 by Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel

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