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Webster 1913 Edition
Abiogenesis
Abˊi-o-gen′e-sis
,Noun.
[Gr.
ἀ
priv. + βίοσ
life + γένεσις
, 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.