generate
verb
Simple meaning
To bring into being.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
jehneraytSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈdʒɛnɚeɪt
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
transitive
To bring into being; give rise to.
Bring into existence
“The new manager generated a lot of problems.”
transitive
To produce as a result of a chemical or physical process.
Produce (energy)
“We can't generate enough power for the entire city.”
intransitive
To appear or occur; be generated.
transitive
To procreate, beget.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To bring into being; give rise to.
Used this way, generate is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Bringverb
“The new manager generated a lot of problems.”
Produceverb
“We can't generate enough power for the entire city.”
More ways to use generate
- “The new manager generated a lot of problems.”verb
- “We can't generate enough power for the entire city.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Tap the highlighted word to open its own entry.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
To bring into existence (a situation, quality, result etc.).
To give rise to.
To yield or give way.
To give birth.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
An apparatus that produces a vapor or gas.
Having the ability to produce or originate.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Happening or arising without apparent external cause.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A type of grammar that describes syntax in terms of a set of logical rules that can generate all and only the infinite number of grammatical sentences in a language and assigns them all the…
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: to bring into being
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What Does It Mean Here?
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.