ONTOGENY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does ontogeny mean? 

• ONTOGENY (noun)
  The noun ONTOGENY has 1 sense:

1. (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level

  Familiarity information: ONTOGENY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ONTOGENY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Synonyms:

development; growing; growth; maturation; ontogenesis; ontogeny

Context example:

he proposed an indicator of osseous development in children

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

biological process; organic process (a process occurring in living organisms)

Meronyms (parts of "ontogeny"):

gastrulation (the process in which a gastrula develops from a blastula by the inward migration of cells)

Domain category:

biological science; biology (the science that studies living organisms)

Domain member category:

isometry (the growth rates in different parts of a growing organism are the same)

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

psychogenesis (the development in the life of an individual of some disorder that is caused by psychological rather than physiological factors)

life cycle (the course of developmental changes in an organism from fertilized zygote to maturity when another zygote can be produced)

masculinisation; masculinization; virilisation; virilization (the abnormal development of male sexual characteristics in a female (usually as the result of hormone therapies or adrenal malfunction))

morphogenesis (differentiation and growth of the structure of an organism (or a part of an organism))

myelinisation; myelinization (the development of a myelin sheath around a nerve fiber)

neurogenesis (the development of nerve tissues)

palingenesis; recapitulation (emergence during embryonic development of various characters or structures that appeared during the evolutionary history of the strain or species)

proliferation (growth by the rapid multiplication of parts)

psychogenesis (a general term for the origin and development of almost any aspect of the mind)

juvenescence (the process of growing into a youth)

psychomotor development (progressive acquisition of skills involving both mental and motor activities)

psychosexual development ((psychoanalysis) the process during which personality and sexual behavior mature through a series of stages: first oral stage and then anal stage and then phallic stage and then latency stage and finally genital stage)

rooting (the process of putting forth roots and beginning to grow)

suppression (the failure to develop some part or organ)

dentition; odontiasis; teething (the eruption through the gums of baby teeth)

teratogenesis (the development of defects in an embryo)

vegetation (the process of growth in plants)

cytogenesis; cytogeny (the origin and development and variation of cells)

amelogenesis (the developmental process of forming tooth enamel)

angiogenesis (the formation of new blood vessels)

apposition ((biology) growth in the thickness of a cell wall by the deposit of successive layers of material)

auxesis (growth from increase in cell size without cell division)

anthesis; blossoming; efflorescence; florescence; flowering; inflorescence (the time and process of budding and unfolding of blossoms)

caenogenesis; cainogenesis; cenogenesis; kainogenesis; kenogenesis (introduction during embryonic development of characters or structure not present in the earlier evolutionary history of the strain or species (such as the addition of the placenta in mammalian evolution))

cohesion ((botany) the process in some plants of parts growing together that are usually separate (such as petals))

cultivation (the process of fostering the growth of something)

culture ((biology) the growing of microorganisms in a nutrient medium (such as gelatin or agar))

foliation; leafing ((botany) the process of forming leaves)

fructification (the bearing of fruit)

gametogenesis (the development and maturation of sex cells through meiosis)

germination; sprouting (the process whereby seeds or spores sprout and begin to grow)

habit (the general form or mode of growth (especially of a plant or crystal))

infructescence (the fruiting stage of the inflorescence)

intussusception ((biology) growth in the surface area of a cell by the deposit of new particles between existing particles in the cell wall)

Derivation:

ontogenetic (of or relating to the origin and development of individual organisms)

 Context examples 

During ontogeny they migrate to the foregut and specific locations of the neuroendocrine system.

(APUD Cell, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)