spawn

1 of 2

verb

ˈspȯn 

ˈspän

spawned; spawning; spawns

intransitive verb

1

: to deposit or fertilize spawn

2

: to produce young especially in large numbers

transitive verb

1

a

: to produce or deposit (eggs)

—used of an aquatic animal

b

: to induce (fish) to spawn

c

: to plant with mushroom spawn

2

: bring forth, generate

the idea spawned controversy

spawner noun

spawn

2 of 2

noun

1

: the eggs of aquatic animals (such as fishes or oysters) that lay many small eggs

2

: product, offspring

also : offspring in great numbers

3

: the seed, germ, or source of something

4

: mycelium especially prepared (as in bricks) for propagating mushrooms

Synonyms

Verb

• beget
• breed
• bring
• bring about
• bring on
• catalyze
• cause
• create
• do
• draw on
• effect
• effectuate
• engender
• generate
• induce
• invoke
• make
• occasion
• produce
• prompt
• result (in)
• translate (into)
• work
• yield

Noun

• fruit
• get
• issue
• offspring
• posterity
• progeny
• seed

Examples of spawn in a Sentence

Verb

The health-food craze spawned a multimillion-dollar industry.

the incident that spawned a generation of student protests

a TV show that spawned a host of imitations

Noun

Pacific salmon return to Alaskan streams to deposit their spawn.

sometimes I think those little brats are the spawn of Satan himself

Recent Examples on the Web

Verb

Almost a decade later, and the desire to prevent the resultant impact on women’s careers, confidence and mental health has spawned copious research, revealing that over 54,000 pregnant women a year lose their job and 390,000 working mums experience negative treatment from their employers. —Lauren Coulman, Forbes, 19 Dec. 2024

And frankly, there are too many of them now — the OG Swifties sold the Eras experience too well and new ones are spawning at record rates. —Larisha Paul, Rolling Stone, 17 Dec. 2024

Noun

The number of salmon and steelhead returning to the Columbia River Basin to spawn remained flat over the last decade at an average of 2.3 million — above the dismal counts in the 1990s, but still below official goals of roughly 5 million fish. —Axios Portland, Axios, 18 Dec. 2024

For example, everyone knows that salmon mature in the ocean then swim upstream to spawn. —Erik Kobayashi-Solomon, Forbes, 16 Dec. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English, from Anglo-French espandre to spread out, shed, scatter, spawn, from Latin expandere to expand

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

spawn

1 of 2 verb

ˈspȯn 

ˈspän

1

: to deposit or fertilize eggs

fish swimming upstream to spawn

2

: to produce young especially in large numbers

3

: generate, bring forth

spawner noun

spawn

2 of 2 noun

1

: the eggs of aquatic animals (as fishes or oysters) that lay many small eggs

2

: product sense 2, offspring

also : something produced in large quantities