Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Development from a single source, such as a cell, an ancestor, or a language.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Origination or derivation from a single species, or, in a restricted sense, from a single pair. Contrasted with polygenesis (which see).
  • noun In biology:
  • noun Development of the ovum from a parent similar to itself: opposed to metagenesis.
  • noun Generation of an individual from one parent which develops both male and female products, or ova and spermatozoa.
  • noun Descent of all living things from a single cell.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Oneness of origin; esp. (Biol.), development of all beings in the universe from a single cell; -- opposed to polygenesis. Called also monism.
  • noun (Biol.) That form of reproduction which requires but one parent, as in reproduction by fission or in the formation of buds, etc., which drop off and form new individuals; asexual reproduction.
  • noun (Biol.) The direct development of an embryo, without metamorphosis, into an organism similar to the parent organism; -- opposed to metagenesis.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun anthropology The theory that mankind originated with a single ancestor or ancestral couple.
  • noun linguistics The theory that all languages, or a particular set of languages, originated from a single source.
  • noun The emergence from a single cause.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun asexual reproduction by the production and release of spores

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mono- + -genesis

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Examples

  • Go check out the views known as monogenesis and polygenesis that appear as scientific cover for a growing view of white supremacy that did not exist prior to the 1800's.

    Memphis Commercial Appeal Stories 2010

  • Go check out the views known as monogenesis and polygenesis that appear as scientific cover for a growing view of white supremacy that did not exist prior to the 1800's.

    Memphis Commercial Appeal Stories 2010

  • Although the Catholic Gobineau initially espoused monogenesis, he later leaned towards polygenesis and ended up ambivalent on this issue

    Race James, Michael 2008

  • David Hume's position on the conflict between polygenesis versus monogenesis is the subject of some scholarly debate.

    Race James, Michael 2008

  • This may or may not be tied into debate about the genesis of pidgins, with one school of thought claiming there was a single source (monogenesis) and one arguing that pidgins arose separately (polygenesis) (a second battle is over substrate, superstrate, or bio-program, a glossary to figure out the terminology is here)

    languagehat.com: ANYONE FOR SALISHAN? 2004

  • The denial of an innate and privileged character of the Adamic language does not, however, mean denial of the doctrine of the monogenesis of languages.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas LIA FORMIGARI 1968

  • Closely related to the confusion of tongues was the problem of China's antiquity and history, and its rela - tionship to orthodox Christian and Western beliefs in monogenesis.

    Dictionary of the History of Ideas DONALD F. LACH 1968

  • The late discovery of the monogenesis, reciprocal convertibility, and indestructibility of all Forces in nature, leads us upward towards the recognition of one Omnipresent and Omnipotent Will, which, like a mighty tide, sweeps through the universe and effects all its changes.

    Christianity and Greek Philosophy or, the relation between spontaneous and reflective thought in Greece and the positive teaching of Christ and His Apostles 1852

  • Drawing inspiration from British anthropologists, Darwin made the early development of language, hence mental monogenesis, central to his account of human evolution.

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2008

  • Drawing inspiration from British anthropologists, Darwin made the early development of language, hence mental monogenesis, central to his account of human evolution.

    Citizendium, the Citizens' Compendium - Recent changes [en] 2008

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