PREFORMATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (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

Synonyms:

preformation; theory of preformation

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

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)

Credits