BREEDING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does breeding mean? 

• BREEDING (noun)
  The noun BREEDING has 5 senses:

1. elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression

2. the result of good upbringing (especially knowledge of correct social behavior)

3. helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community

4. the production of animals or plants by inbreeding or hybridization

5. the sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring

  Familiarity information: BREEDING used as a noun is common.

• BREEDING (adjective)
  The adjective BREEDING has 1 sense:

1. producing offspring or set aside especially for producing offspring

  Familiarity information: BREEDING used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BREEDING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

breeding; genteelness; gentility

Hypernyms ("breeding" is a kind of...):

elegance (a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The result of good upbringing (especially knowledge of correct social behavior)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

breeding; education; training

Context example:

a woman of breeding and refinement

Hypernyms ("breeding" is a kind of...):

upbringing (properties acquired during a person's formative years)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Helping someone grow up to be an accepted member of the community

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

breeding; bringing up; fosterage; fostering; nurture; raising; rearing; upbringing

Context example:

they debated whether nature or nurture was more important

Hypernyms ("breeding" is a kind of...):

acculturation; enculturation; socialisation; socialization (the adoption of the behavior patterns of the surrounding culture)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The production of animals or plants by inbreeding or hybridization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("breeding" is a kind of...):

production ((economics) manufacturing or mining or growing something (usually in large quantities) for sale)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "breeding"):

autosexing ((especially of domestic fowl) breeding to reveal differential sex characteristics at hatching)

cattle breeding (breeding cattle)

dog breeding (breeding dogs)

horse breeding (breeding horses)

Derivation:

breed (cause to procreate (animals))

Sense 5

Meaning:

The sexual activity of conceiving and bearing offspring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

breeding; facts of life; procreation; reproduction

Hypernyms ("breeding" is a kind of...):

sex; sex activity; sexual activity; sexual practice (activities associated with sexual intercourse)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "breeding"):

crossbreeding; interbreeding; miscegenation (reproduction by parents of different races (especially by white and non-white persons))

generation; multiplication; propagation (the act of producing offspring or multiplying by such production)

Derivation:

breed (have young (animals) or reproduce (organisms))

• BREEDING (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Producing offspring or set aside especially for producing offspring

Context example:

retained a few bulls for breeding purposes

Similar:

fruitful (productive or conducive to producing in abundance)

 Context examples 

"Oh, really, I beg pardon. It's an uncommonly fine one, isn't it?" said Tudor, with great presence of mind, and an air of sober interest that did credit to his breeding.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The insecticide was then unleashed in a purpose-built 6,550-square-foot ‘village’ in Burkina Faso, containing huts, plants, and breeding pools, and covered in netting to stop the insects escaping.

(Genetically modified fungus hailed as malaria breakthrough, SciDev.Net)

One of the potencies of whisky is the breeding of thirst.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The pan-genome helps identify what additional genes beyond the reference might be available for crop breeding and improvement.

(Tomato Pan-Genome Makes Bringing Flavor Back Easier, Agricultural Research Service)

She was a benevolent, charitable, good woman, and capable of strong attachments, most correct in her conduct, strict in her notions of decorum, and with manners that were held a standard of good-breeding.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The fate of the penguins is largely tied to the fate of sea ice, which the animals use as a home base for breeding, feeding and molting.

(Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will march toward extinction, National Science Foundation)

Not to do the honours of her house with common good breeding!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Breeding a more flavorful tomato could benefit consumers as well as the tomato industry.

(Scientists develop genetic path to tastier tomatoes, NSF)

As a result, birds in the United States are arriving at their northern breeding grounds earlier in spring — and may be departing later in fall.

(Seasonality of bird migration responds to environmental cues, NSF)

"This resulted in population decline and poor breeding success" for all the king penguin colonies in the region, Weimerskirch said.

(Study: World's Largest King Penguin Colony Declines Sharply, VOA)