progeny

noun prog·e·ny \ ˈprä-jə-nē \

Definition of progeny

plural progenies

1 a :descendants, children

b :offspring of animals or plants

2 :outcome, product

3 :a body of followers, disciples, or successors

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Examples of progeny in a Sentence

Many Americans are the progeny of immigrants.
The small plants are the progeny of an oak tree.
Their work is the progeny of many earlier studies.

Recent Examples of progeny from the Web

The late Baltimore novelist Tom Clancy’s former wife and his widow are battling over his most famous progeny — the character of Jack Ryan.

— mary carole mccauley, baltimoresun.com, "Lawsuit filed to determine who owns the rights to the late novelist Tom Clancy's most famous character," 29 Aug. 2017
The character is endowed with a chromosome that turns his progeny into his persona.

— sam roberts, New York Times, "Brian Aldiss, Author of Science Fiction and Much More, Dies at 92," 24 Aug. 2017
And that, in turn, means the organism (and its progeny) are now resistant to the drive.

— The Economist, "Gene drivesA promising means of pest control meets some evolutionary truths," 22 July 2017
Simply put: Mac figured out before almost anyone else that Steppenwolf and its progeny now need judy far more than judy needs Steppenwolf.

— chris jones, chicagotribune.com, "'Hir' seizes the moment — and turns the old Steppenwolf on its head," 9 July 2017
Some, like the Assyrians, were actively hostile to the tribes whose progeny became part of the Judeo-Christian tradition.

— annalee newitz, Ars Technica, "Hobby Lobby must pay $3 million for smuggling ancient cuneiform artifacts," 6 July 2017
As tiny mutations pop up in a stallion’s Y chromosome, they are inherited by all of its future male progeny, allowing geneticists to trace which males came from which paternal line.

— michael price, Science | AAAS, "Most modern horses came from just two ancient lineages," 29 June 2017
Like many other colonizers, the pink’s progeny established themselves and thrived.

— dave taft, New York Times, "Dainty Invader: the Deptford Pink," 26 June 2017
Now, those policies and their progeny have helped put 63 percent of America's private wealth in the hands of U.S. millionaires and billionaires, BCG said.

— ben steverman, courant.com, "The U.S. Is Where The Rich Are The Richest," 16 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'progeny.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Lineage of progeny

Progeny is the progeny of the Latin verb progignere, meaning "to beget." That Latin word is itself an offspring of the prefix pro-, meaning "forth," and gignere, which can mean "to beget" or "to bring forth." Gignere has produced a large family of English descendants, including benign (meaning "mild" or "harmless"), congenital (meaning "inherent"), engine, genius, germ, indigenous, ingenuous, and malign. Gignere even paired up with pro- again to produce a close relative of progeny: the noun progenitor, which can mean "an ancestor in the direct line," "a biologically ancestral form," or "a precursor or originator."

Origin and Etymology of progeny

Middle English progenie, from Anglo-French, from Latin progenies, from progignere

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

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progeny Synonyms

Synonyms

fruit, get, issue, posterity, offspring, seed, spawn

Related Words

brood, hatch, litter, young; child, scion; family, kin; lineage, stock

Near Antonyms

ancestor, antecedent, father, forebear (also forbear), forebearer, forefather, grandfather, parent, primogenitor, progenitor

Other Genetics Terms

chimera, hermaphrodite, plasticity

PROGENY Defined for English Language Learners

progeny

noun

Definition of progeny for English Language Learners

: a person who comes from a particular parent or family : the child or descendant of someone
: the young of an animal or plant
: something that is the product of something else