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Preformation

nounid 110141·updated May 18, 2026
verified

a theory (popular in the 18th century and now discredited) that an individual develops by simple enlargement of a tiny fully formed organism (a homunculus) that exists in the germ cell

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Unknownauthoritativeglossary_import_default_pending_classifier

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unclassified

Information Class

unclassified

Variants

synonym
theory of preformation
plural
Preformations
possessive
Preformation's
pluralpossessive
Preformations'

Framework definitions

Wordset Dictionary1 senseview framework →
§1
a theory (popular in the 18th century and now discredited) that an individual develops by simple enlargement of a tiny fully formed organism (a homunculus) that exists in the germ cell

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