Learning / English Dictionary

CROSS-FERTILIZATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Interchange between different cultures or different ways of thinking that is mutually productive and beneficial

Example:

the cross-fertilization of science and the creative arts

Synonyms:

cross-fertilisation; cross-fertilization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("cross-fertilization" is a kind of...):

give-and-take; interchange; reciprocation (mutual interaction; the activity of reciprocating or exchanging (especially information))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fertilization by the union of male and female gametes from different individual of the same species

Synonyms:

cross-fertilisation; cross-fertilization

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("cross-fertilization" is a kind of...):

fecundation; fertilisation; fertilization; impregnation (creation by the physical union of male and female gametes; of sperm and ova in an animal or pollen and ovule in a plant)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cross-fertilization"):

allogamy (cross-fertilization in plants)

Antonym:

self-fertilization (fertilization by the union of male and female gametes from the same individual)

Derivation:

cross-fertilize (cause to undergo cross-fertilization)

cross-fertilize (undergo cross-fertilization; become fertile)

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