the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time: the postwar generation.
2.
the term of years, roughly 30 among human beings, accepted as the average period between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring.
3.
a group of individuals, most of whom are the same approximate age, having similar ideas, problems, attitudes, etc. Compare Beat Generation, Lost Generation.
4.
a group of individuals belonging to a specific category at the same time: Chaplin belonged to the generation of silent-screen stars.
5.
a single step in natural descent, as of human beings, animals, or plants.
6.
a form, type, class, etc., of objects existing at the same time and having many similarities or developed from a common model or ancestor: a new generation of computers.
7.
the offspring of a certain parent or couple, considered as a step in natural descent.
8.
the act or process of generating; procreation.
9.
the state of being generated.
10.
production by natural or artificial processes; evolution, as of heat or sound.
11.
Biology.
a.
one complete life cycle.
b.
one of the alternate phases that complete a life cycle having more than one phase: the gametophyte generation.
12.
Mathematics. the production of a geometrical figure by the motion of another figure.
13.
Physics. one of the successive sets of nuclei produced in a chain reaction.
14.
(in duplicating processes, as photocopying, film, etc.) the distance in duplicating steps that a copy is from the original work.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME generacioun < MF < L generātiōn- (s. of generātiō). See generate, -ion]
All of the offspring that are at the same stage of descent from a common ancestor: Mother and daughters represent two generations.
Biology A form or stage in the life cycle of an organism: asexual generation of a fern.
The average interval of time between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring.
A group of individuals born and living about the same time.
A group of generally contemporaneous individuals regarded as having common cultural or social characteristics and attitudes: "They're the television generation"(Roger Enrico).
A stage or period of sequential technological development and innovation.
A class of objects derived from a preceding class: a new generation of computers.
A stage or period of sequential technological development and innovation.
A class of objects derived from a preceding class: a new generation of computers.
The formation of a line or geometric figure by the movement of a point or line.
The act or process of generating; origination, production, or procreation.
c.1300, "offspring of the same parent," also "body of individuals born about the same period" (usually 30 years), from L. generationem (nom. generatio), from generare "bring forth" (see genus). Generator in the sense "machine that generates power" first recorded 1794; in sense of "machine that generates electric energy," 1879. Generation gap first recorded 1967; generation x is 1991, from Douglas Coupland book of that name. The verb generate is attested from 1509; originally "to beget;" in ref. to natural forces, conditions, substances. etc., attested from 1563.
Al*ter"nate\ (?; 277), a. [L. alternatus, p. p. of alternate, fr. alternus. See Altern, Alter.]1. Being or succeeding by turns; one following the other in succession of time or place; by turns first one and then the other; hence, reciprocal. And bid alternate passions fall and rise. --Pope. 2. Designating the members in a series, which regularly intervene between the members of another series, as the odd or even numbers of the numerals; every other; every second; as, the alternate members 1, 3, 5, 7, etc.; read every alternate line. 3. (Bot.) Distributed, as leaves, singly at different heights of the stem, and at equal intervals as respects angular divergence. --Gray. Alternate alligation. See Alligation. Alternate angles (Geom.), the internal and angles made by two lines with a third, on opposite sides of it. It the parallels AB, CD, are cut by the line EF, the angles AGH, GHD, as also the angles BGH and GHC, are called alternate angles. Alternate generation. (Biol.) See under Generation.
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