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evolution

UK/ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/US/ˌɛvəˈluʃ(ə)n/
nounB2Common in everyday speech and writing · #3,559 of 15,258leans written

Other forms: evolutions

Evolution is the slow change of living things across millions of years. The theory of evolution, human evolution, evolution by natural selection.

It is not progress and has no goal: what survives is what reproduces in the conditions of the moment, which is why so much of biology looks improvised. Darwin barely used the word, preferring descent with modification. Note that the Latin means an unrolling, from a scroll being opened.

Charles Darwin · Public domain

Definitions of evolution

  1. 1nounevolutionThe slow change of living things over generations.B2

    “Darwin's theory of evolution explained how species change over time.”

evolution is a process of change.

Where it comes from

Latin evolutio means an unrolling, from evolvere, to unroll a scroll. Revolve and volume come from the same rolling.

  1. Latin

    ēvolūtiō — the act of unrolling, unfolding or opening (of a book)

  2. English, today

    evolution

Built from

  • ēvolvō · Latin — unroll, unfold
  • volvō · Latin — roll

Borrowed from Latin ēvolūtiō (“the act of unrolling, unfolding or opening (of a book)”), from ēvolūtus, perfect passive participle of ēvolvō (“unroll, unfold”), from ex + volvō (“roll”). Compare typologically vývoj, развој, разви́ть, развива́ть, разви́ться, развива́ться, разви́тие, related to viti (whence vít, вить).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Science & Space

Practise this word

evolution in the wild

  • While it is now recognised that genotypes can slowly change by random genetic drift, natural selection remains the primary explanation for adaptive evolution.

    Natural selection

  • The Catholic Church holds no official position on creation or evolution (see Evolution and the Catholic Church).

    Rejection of evolution by religious groups

  • Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in On the Origin of Species.

    Charles Darwin

  • By the 1870s, the scientific community and a majority of the educated public had accepted evolution as a fact.

    Charles Darwin

  • Modern biology is grounded in the theory of evolution by natural selection, first articulated by Charles Darwin, and in the molecular understanding of genes encoded in DNA.

    Biology

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the volvō family

volumeinvolveevolutioninvolvement

evolution — used about once every 621 pages · #3,559 · point at the bar for the others