Generate Meaning
/ˈd͡ʒɛn.ə.ɹeɪt/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
verbTo bring into being; give rise to.
verbTo produce as a result of a chemical or physical process.
Sentence Examples
Nuclear power is used to generate electricity.
An electric current can generate magnetism.
The wind turbines are used to generate electricity.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The new solar panels will ____ enough electricity for the whole house.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new wind farm is expected to ____ enough electricity to power thousands of homes in the local area.
Word Origin & History
From Latin generō (“beget, procreate, produce”) + -ate (verb-forming suffix), from genus (“a kind, race, family”, gener- in compounds) + -ō; see genus. Compare Italian generare, French générer (and its older (and now obsolete) English cognate from Middle French, gender (“engender, breed, copulate”)).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The Ecclesiastical Commission was generated by Sir Robert Peel and bore the marks of Peel’s personality; bureaucratic, capable and cold."
— 1966, Owen Chadwick, The Victorian Church, volume 1, page 126:
"In the last 20 minutes Athletic began to generate the sort of pressure of which they are capable, but by then it was far too late: the game had begun to slip away from them as early as the seventh minute."
— 2012 May 9, Jonathan Wilson, “Europa League: Radamel Falcao's Atlético Madrid rout Athletic Bilbao”, in the Guardian:
"The ability to shift profits to low-tax countries by locating intellectual property in them[…]is often assumed to be the preserve of high-tech companies.[…]current tax rules make it easy for all sorts of firms to generate[…]“stateless income”: profit subject to tax in a jurisdiction that is neither the location of the factors of production that generate the income nor where the parent firm is domiciled."
— 2013 June 22, “T time”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 68:
"“If I can generate a book in a day, and you need six months to write a book, who’s going to win the race?” she said."
— 2026 February 8, Alexandra Alter, quoting Coral Hart, “The New Fabio Is Claude”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
"Mrs. Fennel, seeing the steam begin to generate on the countenances of her guests, crossed over and touched the fiddler's elbow and put her hand on the serpent's mouth."
— 1883, Thomas Hardy, The Three Strangers:
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CEFR Practice Quiz
The new solar panels will ____ enough electricity for the whole house.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The new wind farm is expected to ____ enough electricity to power thousands of homes in the local area.