Genesis Definition & Meaning

American

British

Cultural

Usage

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms Genesis 1 American [jen-uh-sis] / ˈdʒɛn ə sɪs /

noun

1. the first book of the Bible, dealing with the Creation and the Patriarchs. Gen.

genesis 2 American [jen-uh-sis] / ˈdʒɛn ə sɪs /

noun

PLURAL

geneses

1. an origin, creation, or beginning.

-genesis 3 American

1. a combining form of genesis.

   parthenogenesis.

-genesis 1 British

combining form

1. indicating genesis, development, or generation

   biogenesis

   parthenogenesis

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Genesis 2 British / ˈdʒɛnɪsɪs /

noun

1. the first book of the Old Testament recounting the events from the Creation of the world to the sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 genesis 3 British / ˈdʒɛnɪsɪs /

noun

1. a beginning or origin of anything

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Genesis Cultural

1. The first book of the Old Testament; its first words are “In the beginning” (genesis is a Greek word for “beginning”). It covers the time from the beginning of the world through the days of the patriarchs, including the stories of the Creation, Adam and Eve, the Fall of Man, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Flood, God's covenant with Abraham, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, and Joseph and his brothers.

Usage

What does -genesis mean? The combining form -genesis is used like a suffix meaning “genesis.” Genesis means "an origin, creation, or beginning." The form -genesis is often used in scientific terms, especially in biology. In particular, it describes the process of creation.The form -genesis comes from Greek génesis, meaning “origin” or “source,” source of the English word genesis. The Latin translation of -génesis is orīgō, which is the source of words such as aboriginal and origin. To learn more, check out our entries for both aboriginal and origin.What are variants of -genesis?While the form -genesis doesn't have any variants, it is related to the combining form -genetic, as in phylogenetic. The form -genesis is also closely related to the combining forms -gen, -geny, -genic, and -genous, as in pathogen, heterogeny, hallucinogenic, and heterogenous. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for -genetic, -genic, -geny, -genic, and -genous.

Other Word Forms

• -genetic combining form
• Genesiac adjective
• Genesiacal adjective
• Genesitic adjective
• hypergenesis noun

Etymology

Origin of Genesis1

First recorded before 1100; from Latin: literally “generation, creation,” from Greek Génesis, the Greek rendering of Hebrew bĕrēʾshith, the first word of the Biblical book, traditionally translated “in the beginning”; genesis ( def. )

Origin of genesis1

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin: “generation, birth,” from Greek génesis “origin, source”

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The Genesis Mission aims to leverage government and university scientific datasets to build AI models for various problems.

From Barron's

The order described Genesis as “a dedicated, coordinated national effort to unleash a new age of AI‑accelerated innovation and discovery that can solve the most challenging problems of this century.”

From Barron's

The Genesis Mission looks to leverage the large scientific datasets scattered throughout government agencies and universities and use them to build AI models that can more rapidly solve the thorniest problems in medicine, energy, and national security, the last being the primary mission of the National Labs.

From Barron's

Dubbed the Genesis Mission, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Michael Kratsios called it “the largest marshaling of federal scientific resources since the Apollo program.”

From Barron's

For a couple of months, he lived in the San Francisco precursor to Neogenesis, called Genesis House.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• origin
• provenance

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.