To generate is to make or produce something, usually a product, an idea, or money.
Their company is generating a lot of new revenue this year. (They’re making a lot of money.)
Manufacturing generates employment for millions of workers worldwide.
Secretary Kerry hopes the gesture of peace will generate good will among the people of the country.
Police brutality generates a lot of hostility among people who suffer from it.
The word "generate" is often used when describing a source of energy:
A wind mill generates electricity from the wind.
Electricity can be generated from solar power.
A hydroelectric plant generates electricity from the flow of water from a river or a dam.
Electricity generated by burning coal is cheap, but it pollutes the air.
Solar energy can generate enough power for a person’s house.
A generator generates electricity. (A generator is a machine or a large system for producing electricity.)
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The word "generation" is a noun.
The generation of electricity from coal is not sustainable. The world needs to find cleaner sources of energy.
The generation of knowledge from a university results in the development of new technology.
Sometimes the word "generation" refers to a group of people born within a 20 to 25-year period of time. This use of the word is quite different from the examples above.
The baby-boom generation began in the late 1940s after World War II.
Older people have a hard time relating to members of younger generations.
Several generations will have to pass before the painful memories of the war (pick one) are erased.
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