preformation

1. 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

   Synonymstheory of preformation

   Broadertheory

Other forms of preformation

plural

preformations·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about preformation

What does preformation mean?

preformation means "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".

How many syllables are in preformation?

preformation has 5 syllables: pre-for-ma-ti-on. The stress falls on "ti".

What is another word for preformation?

Close synonyms include theory of preformation. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is preformation a common word?

preformation is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.