PREFORMATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does preformation mean? 

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

1. a theory (popular in the 18th century and now discredited) that an individual develops by simple enlargement of a tiny fully formed organism (a homunculus) that exists in the germ cell

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• PREFORMATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A theory (popular in the 18th century and now discredited) that an individual develops by simple enlargement of a tiny fully formed organism (a homunculus) that exists in the germ cell

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

preformation; theory of preformation

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

theory (a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena)

Derivation:

preform (form or shape beforehand or determine the shape of beforehand)