English

Verb

skip a generation ‎(third-person singular simple present skips a generation, present participle skipping a generation, simple past and past participle skipped a generation)

1. To be present (as a trait or behavior) in a person and the person's grandchild, but not in the intervening generation (the person's child).

Usage notes

Primarily used of talents (e.g., artistic, scientific) or of diseases – e.g., someone who is an actor, like their grandmother, but whose parents are engineers.

Synonyms

• atavism