generation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   All the people of about the same age within a family or society.

   This music is popular with the younger generation.

2. 2
   noun

   The average period, about thirty years, in which children grow up and become parents themselves.

   The house has stayed in the family for three generations.

3. 3
   noun

   A stage in the development of a product or technology.

   The latest generation of smartphones has much better cameras.

4. 4
   noun

   The act of producing something, such as power or income.

   The dam is used for the generation of electricity.

Inherited from Middle English generacioun, from Anglo-Norman generacioun, Middle French generacion, and their source, Latin generātiō, from generāre (“to beget, generate”). By surface analysis, generate + -ion.

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