engender
verb
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.
Examples of engender in a Sentence
Robert Schmad, The Washington Examiner, 8 Apr. 2026
And, according to early audiences, the film ends at such a point that seems designed to engender an immediate sequel, though no official plans have been announced yet.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 8 Apr. 2026
Then, in the summer transfer window, the club went on their largest spree ever, spending over £400million in fees, moves which naturally engendered sizeable salaries for the players signed.
—Chris Weatherspoon, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2026
This formalization effort engendered trust.
—Leila Sloman, Quanta Magazine, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for engender
Cite this Entry
“Engender.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/engender. Accessed 16 Apr. 2026.
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engender
verb
