regeneration

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. The act or process of regenerating or the state of being regenerated.
2. n. Spiritual or moral revival or rebirth.
3. n. Biology Regrowth of lost or destroyed parts or organs.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The act of regenerating or producing anew.
2. n. In theology: A radical change in the spirit of an individual, accomplished by the direct action of the Spirit of God. Evangelical theologians agree that there is a necessity for such a radical spiritual change in man in order to the divine life; but they differ widely in their psychological explanations of the change. They are, however, generally agreed that it consists of or at least necessarily involves a change in the affections and desires of the soul. Regeneration is also understood, as by the Roman Catholic Church, to be the gilt of the germ of a spiritual life conferred regularly by God's ordinance in baptism, which is accordingly called the sacrament of regeneration, or simply regeneration. The word regeneration occurs only once in the New Testament in its ordinary theological meaning; but equivalent expressions are found, such as “begotten again,” “born again,” “born of God,” “born of water and of the Spirit.”
3. n. The renovation of the world to be accomplished at the second coming of the Messiah.
4. n. (rē-jen-e-rā′ shon). In biology, the genesis or origination of new tissue to repair the waste of the body, or to replace worn-out tissue; also, the reproduction of lost or destroyed parts or organs. Regeneration of tissue constantly goes on in all animals in the ordinary repair of waste products of vital action; but the replacing of lost parts, as a limb, is nearly confined to animals below vertebrates, in many of which it is an easy or usual process.
5. n. Synonyms See conversion.
6. n. See reproduction.
7. n. In biology: The reproduction of a whole organism or of a part of an organism from a separated portion of the body of an organism. See the extract.
8. n. In forestry, same as reproduction, 6.

Wiktionary

1. n. rebuilding or restructuring; large scale repair or renewal.
2. n. fantasy, gaming restoration of health or hit points

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. The act of regenerating, or the state of being regenerated.
2. n. (Theol.) The entering into a new spiritual life; the act of becoming, or of being made, Christian; that change by which holy affectations and purposes are substituted for the opposite motives in the heart.
3. n. (Biol.) The reproduction of a part which has been removed or destroyed; re-formation; -- a process especially characteristic of a many of the lower animals.
4. n. The reproduction or renewal of tissues, cells, etc., which have been used up and destroyed by the ordinary processes of life.
5. n. The union of parts which have been severed, so that they become anatomically perfect.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. feedback in phase with (augmenting) the input
2. n. the activity of spiritual or physical renewal
3. n. (biology) growth anew of lost tissue or destroyed parts or organs
4. n. forming again (especially with improvements or removal of defects); renewing and reconstituting