Synonyms of breeding

breeding 1 of 2

noun

ˈbrē-diŋ 

as in lineage

the line of ancestors from whom a person is descended

a family of good breeding that is well respected in the community

Synonyms & Similar Words

• lineage
• ancestry
• pedigree
• origin
• genealogy
• family
• extraction
• descent
• parentage
• birth
• blood
• stock
• strain
• bloodline
• family tree
• line
• succession
• heredity
• relations
• house
• race
• relatives
• kin
• kindred

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• seed
• progeny
• issue
• offspring
• posterity
• child
• son
• heir
• successor
• inheritor

breeding

2 of 2

verb

present participle of breed

1

as in reproducing

to bring forth offspring

rabbits will breed very frequently unless they're kept separated

Synonyms & Similar Words

• reproducing
• propagating
• multiplying
• producing
• procreating
• spawning
• hatching
• generating
• parenting
• having
• siring
• begetting
• mothering
• getting
• engendering
• gendering
• bearing

2

as in raising

to bring to maturity through care and education

he was bred to a life in the military by his father, himself an army captain

Synonyms & Similar Words

• raising
• fostering
• rearing
• nurturing
• teaching
• feeding
• promoting
• nursing
• watching
• cultivating
• educating
• bringing up
• nourishing
• training
• attending
• fathering
• mothering
• schooling
• supplying
• disciplining
• ministering (to)
• instructing
• providing (for)
• furthering
• leading
• mentoring
• preparing
• guiding
• caring (for)
• forwarding
• cradling
• enlightening
• showing
• advancing
• tutoring
• indoctrinating
• minding
• directing
• shepherding
• edifying

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• mistreating
• abusing
• ignoring
• maltreating
• mishandling
• neglecting
• ill-treating
• ill-using
• harming
• injuring
• hurting

3

as in creating

to be the cause of (a situation, action, or state of mind)

this habit of favoring one employee over the others will breed resentment

Synonyms & Similar Words

• creating
• causing
• bringing
• spawning
• generating
• producing
• doing
• prompting
• working
• yielding
• inducing
• making
• effecting
• invoking
• bringing about
• translating (into)
• drawing on
• resulting (in)
• begetting
• giving rise to
• engendering
• promoting
• catalyzing
• effectuating
• introducing
• bringing forth
• bringing on
• occasioning
• encouraging
• establishing
• contributing (to)
• developing
• fostering
• initiating
• founding
• determining
• launching
• pioneering
• cultivating
• beginning
• inaugurating
• starting
• deciding
• instituting
• furthering
• nurturing
• rendering
• advancing
• forwarding
• conducing (to)
• enacting
• fathering
• setting
• setting up
• innovating
• turning out
• nourishing

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• limiting
• restricting
• impeding
• controlling
• crushing
• suppressing
• checking
• stifling
• repressing
• smothering
• restraining
• inhibiting
• subduing
• curbing
• retarding
• killing
• quashing
• putting down
• dampening
• arresting
• quelling
• destroying
• squashing
• squelching
• abolishing
• canning
• extinguishing
• cracking down (on)
• liquidating
• clamping down (on)
• quenching
• demolishing
• reining (in)
• stilling
• snuffing (out)

4

as in sleeping

to engage in sexual intercourse

cats breeding outside our window made a horrible racket last night

Synonyms & Similar Words

• sleeping
• mating
• doing it
• having sex
• copulating
• fornicating
• fooling around

5

as in planting

to set permanently in the consciousness or mind-set

parents who breed in their children a deep respect for people of all classes

Synonyms & Similar Words

• planting
• implanting
• inseminating
• rooting
• embedding
• sowing
• lodging
• inculcating
• instilling
• driving
• infixing
• enrooting
• investing
• pounding
• hammering
• inoculating
• entrenching
• infusing
• imbuing
• fixing
• steeping
• suffusing
• ingraining

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of breeding

Noun

The couple explained that Tuktuk had originally been intended as a breeding dog and that his original owners retained his breeding rights. — Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 13 Aug. 2026

No experts believe that elk have completely quit bugling because calling is an important aspect of the breeding ritual. — Alex Robinson, Outdoor Life, 12 Aug. 2026

Verb

Google applied for an experimental use permit to inject mosquitoes with a specific strain of the Wolbachia pipientis bacteria, which would prevent them from breeding. — Kimberly Miller, USA Today, 31 July 2026

Over time, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust hopes to see white storks successfully breeding in the area and to manage releases from the enclosure into the reserve as part of the species recovery program. — Moná Thomas, PEOPLE, 29 July 2026

Phrases Containing breeding

• breeding ground