spontaneous generation

noun

: a now-discredited notion that living organisms spontaneously originate directly from nonliving matter

A difficulty that we have forgotten lay in the widespread belief in spontaneous generation. Aristotle had written that flies, worms, and other small animals originated spontaneously from putrefying matter.

—Daniel J. Boorstin

Examples of spontaneous generation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There is even a kind of scientific creation story, a theory of life called spontaneous generation, most prominently proposed by Aristotle more than 2,000 years ago. — Sarah Scoles, Scientific American, 15 Sep. 2026

In 19th-century France, the young chemist challenged the theory of spontaneous generation and discovered an invisible world of airborne microbes. — Carl Zimmer, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1665, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for spontaneous generation

• deindustrialization
• immunoprecipitation
• individualisation
• individualization
• institutionalisation
• institutionalization
• internationalization
• neovascularization
• operationalization
• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration

Kids Definition

spontaneous generation

noun

: the coming into existence of living things directly from lifeless matter instead of from other living things

Medical Definition

spontaneous generation

noun

: a now discredited notion that living organisms spontaneously originate directly from nonliving matter