preformation
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
preformation (countable and uncountable, plural preformations)
- Prior formation.
- (biology, historical) The theory that organisms are fully developed in the form of an egg or seed, and just increase in size (as opposed to epigenesis).
- 1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 174:
- Preformation, as even Aristotle spotted, merely postpones the problem, for how did the homunculus get its shape?