generate

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English

Etymology 1

From Latin generō (beget, procreate, produce) +‎ -ate (verb-forming suffix), from genus (a kind, race, family, gener- in compounds) +‎ ; see genus. Compare Italian generare, French générer (and its older (and now obsolete) English cognate from Middle French, gender (engender, breed, copulate)).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛn.ɚ.eɪt/
    • Audio (US):(file)
  • (Indic) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒen(a)reːʈ/
  • (Canada) IPA(key): /ˈd͡ʒɛnəreːt/

Verb

generate (third-person singular simple present generates, present participle generating, simple past and past participle generated)

  1. (transitive) To bring into being; give rise to.
    The discussion generated an uproar.
    • 1966, Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, volume 1, page 126:
      The Ecclesiastical Commission was generated by Sir Robert Peel and bore the marks of Peel’s personality; bureaucratic, capable and cold.
    • 2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian:
      In the last 20 minutes Athletic began to generate the sort of pressure of which they are capable, but by then it was far too late: the game had begun to slip away from them as early as the seventh minute.
    • 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
      The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies. current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate “stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled.
  2. (transitive) To produce as a result of a chemical or physical process.
    Adding concentrated sulphuric acid to water generates heat.
  3. (transitive) To procreate, beget.
    They generated many offspring.
  4. (transitive, mathematics) To form a figure from a curve or solid.
    Rotating a circle generates a sphere.
  5. (intransitive) To appear or occur; be generated.
    • 1883, Thomas Hardy, The Three Strangers:
      Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on the countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the fiddler's elbow and put her hand on the serpent's mouth.
Synonyms
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Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Etymology 2

Learned borrowing from Latin generātus, perfect passive participle of generō (beget, procreate, produce). See Etymology 1 and -ate (adjective-forming suffix) for more.

Adjective

generate (not comparable)

  1. (rare) generated, begotten
    • 1965, R. A. Norris, God & World in Early Chrisian Theology, volume ii. 67:
      It poses the thorny problem of the status of the Logos. Is he generate or ingenerate?.. Justin replies that he is generate—but in a special sense.
    • 1543 (1464), John Hardyng, Chronicle of John Hardyng, page 282:
      Edwarde his sonne & heire first generate..Crouned was in all royall estate.

Further reading

Anagrams

Italian

Verb

generate

  1. inflection of generare:
    1. second-person plural present indicative/subjunctive
    2. second-person plural imperative
    3. feminine plural past participle

Anagrams

Latin

Participle

generāte

  1. vocative masculine singular of generātus

Spanish

Verb

generate

  1. second-person singular voseo imperative of generar combined with te