What does engender mean?
Word: Engender
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Engender means to cause a feeling or situation to come into being.
Synonyms: cause, produce, generate, arouse
Antonyms: stifle, suppress
Word origin: Comes from Old French engendrer, from Latin ingenerare, to produce.
How do you spell engender?
Syllables: en - gen - der
Tricky part: It begins en-, and the g is soft as in gentle but still written g. The ending is -er, not -or.
Watch out for: enjender, engendor, ingender
Memory tip: The g here sounds like the g in gentle and germ: soft, but always written g, never j.
Engender in a sentence
Example 1: Fair rules engender trust among the players.
Example 2: Kindness often engenders kindness in return.
Example 3: Shared chores can engender teamwork in a crowded camp.
Fun Fact
Engender belongs to a large family built on the Latin root gen, birth or kind, which also gives generate and genre.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word engender as used in the sentence:
Long delays in repairing the roads only engender anger among the residents.
a) breed
b) spark
c) prevent
d) provoke
Show answer
c) prevent. Spark, breed and provoke all bring a feeling about; prevent stops it from starting.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word:
1. engender 2. distroy 3. abolesh 4. dimminish
a) to make or become smaller
b) to damage something so badly it no longer exists
c) to bring about a mood or condition
d) to end a law or system officially
Show answer
c) to bring about a mood or condition. Distroy has i where an e belongs, abolesh has e where an i belongs, and dimminish has one m too many; engender is the correct one.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
His selfless work helped dergenne goodwill between the two villages.
a) engender
b) gendered
c) endanger
d) engineer
Show answer
a) engender. Endanger needs an a, gendered a second d and engineer an i, so the letters make engender.
Word Makeup
Only one of these words can take the prefix en- to form a real word. Choose it.
a) honest
b) courage
c) quick
d) polite
Show answer
b) courage. En and courage make encourage; none of the other three takes en in front.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Trust is most likely to be engendered by ____.
a) keeping promises
b) breaking rules
c) hiding facts
d) telling lies
Show answer
a) keeping promises
2. Engender is closest in meaning to ____.
a) stir up
b) give up
c) put off
d) look after
Show answer
a) stir up
