From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishoffspringoff‧spring /ˈɒfˌsprɪŋ $ ˈɒːf-/ ●○○ noun (plural offspring) [countable] 1 CHILDsomeone’s child or children – often used humorously a young mother trying to control her offspring2 HBAan animal’s baby or babies SYN young a lion and its offspring
Examples from the Corpus
offspring• With a mixture of threats and promises, Halvorsen managed to evict his determined offspring, and led Floyd into the office.• Hardly a day goes by without Mrs Molt or one of her offspring calling around to borrow something.• Fears that radiotherapy would cause genetic mutations leading to handicaps in offspring appear to be groundless, according to studies among 3,000 survivors.• But this does put an exceedingly onerous burden on women who are required to bear, rear and look after the offspring.• When they seemed to resemble each other rather too closely, he introduced random mutations in the offspring.• They see that as having survival value for their offspring.• A combination of lax discipline and hostile attitudes on the part of both parents encourages very aggressive and poorly controlled behaviour in their offspring.• Parents with the disease are likely to pass it on to their offspring.• Only in mid-to late summer do they appear at the tunnel with their offspring.Origin offspring Old English ofspring, from of “off” + springan “to move suddenly” 