generational en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ǵenh₁- Proto-Indo-European *-os Proto-Indo-European *ǵénh₁os Proto-Italic *genos Latin genus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Latin generō Proto-Indo-European *-tis Proto-Indo-European *-Hō Proto-Indo-European *-tiHō Proto-Italic *-tiō Latin -tiō Latin generātiōbor. Old French generacionbor. ▲ Latin generātiōbor. Middle English generacioun English generation English -al English generational From generation + -al.
Meanings
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(not-comparable) Of, pertaining to, or changing over generations.
The generational shift Mr. Obama once embodied is, in fact, well under way, but it will not change Washington as quickly — or as harmoniously — as a lot of voters once hoped.
2012 November 7, Matt Bai, “Winning a Second Term, Obama Will Confront Familiar Headwinds”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 16 Nov 2018:
- (informal, not-comparable) Exceptional; the best/worst of a generation; once-in-a-generation.
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(informal, not-comparable) Very good/bad (through semantic bleaching or weakening of the above sense).
Mr Musk’s actions are worrying shareholders – a gesture he referred to as a “Roman salute” has not gone down well in Europe. In a recent survey of over 100,000 Germans, 94pc said they would never purchase a Tesla, while sales in their country were down 62pc during the first quarter of 2025 compared to the year before. … Gen Z investors on social media refer to errors like this as “a generational fumble”.
2025 April 5, Josh Kirby, “Warren Buffett’s $230m bet on this Tesla killer changed the way I invest”, in The Telegraph, archived from the original on 07 Apr 2025:
Deriveds
generational curse · generational change · cross-generational · generational dynamics · generationally · monogenerational · generational run · nongenerational · generational planet · trigenerational · generational wealth · unigenerational · transgenerational · intergenerational · generational lock-in · intragenerational · generational conflict · extragenerational · Strauss-Howe generational theory · bigenerational · multigenerational
Translations (19)
gl xeracional (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · de generationell (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · ca generacional (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · io generacionala (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · nl generationeel (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · de generationsmäßig (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · he דּוֹרִי (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · cs generační (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · it generazionale (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · pt geracional (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · cmn 世代的 (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · fi sukupolvien välinen (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · de Generations- (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · fi sukupolvittainen (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · ru поколе́нческий (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · fr générationnel (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · eo generacia (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · pl pokoleniowy (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations) · es generacional (of, pertaining to, or changing over generations)