growth

Pronunciation: /ɡɹoʊθ/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a purely biological unfolding of events involved in an organism changing gradually from a simple to a more complex level
  2. noun a progression from simpler to more complex forms
  3. noun a process of becoming larger or longer or more numerous or more important

Etymology

From grow + -th (abstract nominal suffix). Compare Old Frisian grēd ("meadow, pasture"; > North Frisian greyde (“growth, pasture”)), Middle High German gruote, gruot (“greens, fresh growth, shoot”), Old Norse gróðr ("growth, crop"; > Faroese grøði, Danish grøde (“fruits”), Swedish gröda (“crop, harvest”)). More at grow.

In classic literature

Synonyms

growing, maturation, development, ontogeny, ontogenesis

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
organic process
Narrower (hyponyms)
myelinization, angiogenesis, life cycle, amelogenesis, cultivation, teething
Opposite (antonyms)
nondevelopment

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