engender

verb

en·​gen·​der in-ˈjen-dər 

en-

engendered; engendering in-ˈjen-d(ə-)riŋ 

en-

transitive verb

1

: beget, procreate

2

: to cause to exist or to develop : produce

policies that have engendered controversy

intransitive verb

: to assume form : originate

Did you know?

A good paragraph about engender will engender understanding in the reader. Like its synonym generate, engender comes from the Latin verb generare, meaning “to generate” or “to beget,” and when the word was first used in the 14th century, engender meant “propagate” or “procreate.” That literal meaning having to do with creating offspring (which generate shared when it was adopted in the early 16th century) was soon joined by the “to cause to exist or develop; to produce” meaning most familiar to us today. Generare didn’t just engender generate and engender; regenerate, degenerate, and generation have the same Latin root. As you might suspect, the list of engender relatives does not end there. Generare comes from the Latin noun genus, meaning “origin” or “kind.” From this source we took our own word genus, plus gender, general, and generic, among other words.

Synonyms

• beget
• breed
• bring
• bring about
• bring on
• catalyze
• cause
• create
• do
• draw on
• effect
• effectuate
• generate
• induce
• invoke
• make
• occasion
• produce
• prompt
• result (in)
• spawn
• translate (into)
• work
• yield

Examples of engender in a Sentence

The issue has engendered a considerable amount of debate.

a suggestion to go out for pizza that didn't seem to engender any interest

Recent Examples on the Web

At the end of the day, the purpose of assigning a problem set is not to have the student solve the problems per se but to use the work that students do while solving the problems to engender a certain amount of learning in the student. —Ray Ravaglia, Forbes, 11 Sep. 2024

Following 15 years of uninterrupted rule, practically every government institution has been politicized by Hasina’s Awami League party, engendering deep distrust of the military, courts, civil service, and especially security services. —Charlie Campbell, TIME, 3 Oct. 2024

The move has engendered a lot of vitriol among A's fans, particularly because the team will be temporarily moving to a minor league stadium in Sacramento, Calf., for at least the next three to four seasons. —Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 1 Oct. 2024

Amazon’s election coverage plan engendered lots of TV industry chatter when it was first reported by Puck and Variety over the weekend. —Brian Stelter, CNN, 29 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English engendren, from Anglo-French engendrer, from Latin ingenerare, from in- + generare to generate

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

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Kids Definition

engender

verb

en·​gen·​der in-ˈjen-dər 

engendered; engendering -d(ə-)riŋ 

1

: to reproduce offspring

2

: to be the source or cause of : produce

tensions that engender emotional conflicts