generate

To bring into being; give rise to.

Adjective

  1. Generated, not self-existent.
    • But neither is one time generated in another; for if the preſent be generated in the future, the future muſt be present; and if in the paſt, the paſt. The ſame may be ſaid of other times; therefore one time is not...
    • 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. - 1965, R. A. Norris, God & World in Early Chrisian Theology, volume ii....

    Antonyms: ingenerate

Origin

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

Verb

  1. To bring into being; give rise to.
    • The discussion generated an uproar.
    • The Ecclesiastical Commission was generated by Sir Robert Peel and bore the marks of Peel’s personality; bureaucratic, capable and cold. - 1966, Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, volume 1, page 126:
    • 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. - 2012 May 9,...
  2. To produce as a result of a chemical or physical process.
    • Adding concentrated sulphuric acid to water generates heat.
  3. To procreate, beget.
    • They generated many offspring.
  4. To form a figure from a curve or solid.
    • Rotating a circle generates a sphere.
  5. To appear or occur; be generated.
    • 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. - 1883, Thomas Hardy, The Three Strangers:

Origin

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

Forms

generates generating generated

Synonyms

bring about create engender make produce spawn

Antonyms

abrogate annihilate degenerate extinguish obliterate ungenerate erase

Related

generable general generation generative generic genus

Derived

autogenerate cogenerate congenerate generatability generatable misgenerate overgenerate pregenerate regenerate self-generating undergenerate