Hypertext Webster Gateway: "abiogenesis"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Abiogenesis \Ab`i*o*gen"e*sis\, n. [Gr. 'a priv. + ? life + ?,
origin, birth.] (Biol.)
The supposed origination of living organisms from lifeless
matter; such genesis as does not involve the action of living
parents; spontaneous generation; -- called also {abiogeny},
and opposed to {biogenesis}.
I shall call the . . . doctrine that living matter may
be produced by not living matter, the hypothesis of
abiogenesis. --Huxley,
1870.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
abiogenesis
n : a hypothetical organic phenomenon by which living organisms
are created from nonliving matter [syn: {autogenesis}, {autogeny},
{spontaneous generation}]
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