Found 2 items, similar to preformation.
English → English (WordNet) Definition: preformation preformation n : 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 [syn: theory of preformation]
English → English (gcide) Definition: Preformation Preformation \Pre`for*ma"tion\, n. (Biol.) An old theory of the pre["e]xistence of germs. Cf. Embo[^i]tement. [1913 Webster]