offspring

offspring: offspring, young, progeny, issue, descendant, posterity are comparable when they mean those who follow in direct parental line.

Offspring applies to those who are by birth immediately related to a parent; the term does not necessarily apply to human beings, for it may refer to animals or sometimes to plants

{
at each farrow the sow produces many offspring
}

{
the son endeavoring to appear the worthy offspring of such a father— Steele
}

Young is used most often of the offspring of animals

{
a bear surrounded by its young
}

{
turtles bury their eggs in beaches and sandbanks and the young dig their way out when they hatch
}

Progeny usually applies to the offspring of a father or a mother or of both; the term more often refers to those of human parentage, but it is used occasionally of the offspring of animals and plants

{
from this union sprang a vigorous progeny— Hawthorne
}

In comparison with offspring, however, it has somewhat extended use, being sometimes applied to those who trace their ancestry more remotely or to those who are the spiritual or intellectual successors of a great man

{
all the progeny of David
}

{
the intellectual progeny of Plato
}

Issue, chiefly a legal term, is more abstract than the preceding terms and is used merely to call attention to the fact that a union has or has not reproduced its kind

{
die without issue
}

{
in the event of issue, the estate will pass to the children who are born of this union
}

Descendant, on the other hand, applies to anyone who has or, in the plural, to all who have a right to claim relationship with a person as an ancestor in direct line; the degree of nearness does not matter, but the relationship of each as child, grandchild, great-grand- child, and so on must exist

{
they are descendants of the first settlers of the town
}

{
the claims of certain people to be descendants of George Washington are absurd, since he died without issue
}

Posterity differs from descendants only in connoting all the descendants of a common an-cestor

{
the unnumbered posterity of William Bradford
}

The term is also often used of the generations that come after a person, a race, or a people

{
his fame will live to all posterity
}

{
we are leaving many problems for posterity to solve
}

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Synonyms:

Issue, progeny, child or children, descendant or descendants, posterity / Production

Look at other dictionaries:

offspring — I noun brood, cadet, child, children, descendants, family, heir, issue, lineage, next generation, offshoots, posterity, progenies, progeny, proles, scion, spawn, stirps, successor, younger generation associated concepts: illegitimate offspring,… … Law dictionary
offspring — meaning ‘a person s or animal s child or young’ has the same form in the plural: • A person is a Jew if he or she is the offspring of a Jewish mother or has been converted to the Jewish faith J. R. Baker, 1974 • So these offspring shared in the… … Modern English usage
Offspring — Off spring , n. sing. & pl. [Off + spring.] [1913 Webster] 1. The act of production; generation. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 2. That which is produced; a child or children; a descendant or descendants, however remote from the stock. [1913 Webster] To… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
offspring — [ôf′spriŋ΄] n. pl. offspring or offsprings [ME ofspring < OE: see OFF1 & SPRING] 1. a child or animal as related to its parent 2. a descendant or descendants collectively; progeny 3. a product, outcome, or result … English World dictionary
offspring — offspring. = progeny (см.). (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) … Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.
offspring — offspring. См. потомство. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) … Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.
offspring — (n.) O.E. ofspring children or young collectively, descendants, lit. those who spring off (someone,) from off + springan to spring (see SPRING (Cf. spring) (v.)). The figurative sense is first recorded c.1600 … Etymology dictionary
offspring — [n] child, children baby, bambino*, brood, chip off old block*, cub, descendant, family, generation, heir, heredity, issue, kid*, lineage, offshoot, posterity, produce, progeniture, progeny, pup*, scion, seed, spawn, succession, successor, young; … New thesaurus
offspring — ► NOUN (pl. same) ▪ a person s child or children, or the young of an animal … English terms dictionary
Offspring — The Offspring Cet article a pour sujet le groupe de punk rock. Pour une définition du mot « offspring », voir l’article offspring du Wiktionnaire. The Offspring … Wikipédia en Français

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offspring

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