the entire body of individuals born and living at about the same time: the postwar generation.
2.
the term of years, roughly 30 among human beings, accepted as the average period between the birth of parents and the birth of their offspring.
3.
a group of individuals, most of whom are the same approximate age, having similar ideas, problems, attitudes, etc. Compare Beat Generation, Lost Generation.
4.
a group of individuals belonging to a specific category at the same time: Chaplin belonged to the generation of silent-screen stars.
5.
a single step in natural descent, as of human beings, animals, or plants.
6.
a form, type, class, etc., of objects existing at the same time and having many similarities or developed from a common model or ancestor: a new generation of computers.
7.
the offspring of a certain parent or couple, considered as a step in natural descent.
8.
the act or process of generating; procreation.
9.
the state of being generated.
10.
production by natural or artificial processes; evolution, as of heat or sound.
11.
Biology.
a.
one complete life cycle.
b.
one of the alternate phases that complete a life cycle having more than one phase: the gametophyte generation.
12.
Mathematics. the production of a geometrical figure by the motion of another figure.
13.
Physics. one of the successive sets of nuclei produced in a chain reaction.
14.
(in duplicating processes, as photocopying, film, etc.) the distance in duplicating steps that a copy is from the original work.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME generacioun < MF < L generātiōn- (s. of generātiō). See generate, -ion]
beat generation, term applied to certain American artists and writers who were popular during the 1950s. Essentially anarchic, members of the beat generation rejected traditional social and artistic forms. The beats sought immediate expression in multiple, intense experiences and beatific illumination like that of some Eastern religions (e.g., Zen Buddhism). In literature they adopted rhythms of simple American speech and of bop and progressive jazz. Among those associated with the movement were the novelists Jack Kerouac and Chandler Brossard, numerous poets (e.g., Kenneth Rexroth, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Gregory Corso), and others, many of whom worked in and around San Francisco. Perhaps the only true nihilist of the group was William S. Burroughs. During the 1960s "beat" ideas and attitudes were absorbed by other cultural movements, and those who practiced something akin to the "beat" lifestyle were called "hippies."
See B. Cook, The Beat Generation (1971, repr. 1982), J. Tytell, Naked Angels (1976, repr. 1991), E. H. Foster, Understanding the Beats (1992), D. Sterritt, Mad to Be Saved: The Beats, the 50s, and Film (1998), and J. Campbell, This Is the Beat Generation (2001); film documentary, The Source (1999).
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