evolution
NounOpen English WordNet
Noun (2)
- a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage)“the development of his ideas took many years”“the evolution of Greek civilization”“the slow development of her skill as a writer”Synonyms: developmentOpposite devolutionType of process, physical processKinds growth, unfolding, deepening, assibilation, tsundere
- (biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organismsSynonyms: organic evolutionphylogenyphylogenesisType of organic process, biological processKinds macroevolution, emergent evolution, microevolution, speciation, anthropogenesis, anamorphosis
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Translations
Noun biological evolution
- Spanish
- evolución
- French
- évolution
- German
- Evolution
- Italian
- evoluzione
- Portuguese
- evolução
- Turkish
- evrim
- Russian
- эволю́ция evoljúcija
- Arabic
- تَطَوُّر taṭawwur
- Chinese
- 进化 jìnhuà
- Japanese
- 進化 shinka
27 more languages
- Dutch
- evolutie
- Polish
- ewolucja
- Swedish
- evolution
- Greek
- εξέλιξη exélixi
- Korean
- 진화 jinhwa
- Indonesian
- evolusi
- Vietnamese
- tiến hóa
- Hungarian
- evolúció
- Portuguese (PT)
- evolução
- Chinese (Trad.)
- 進化 jìnhuà
- Catalan
- evolució
- Czech
- evoluce
- Danish
- evolution
- Esperanto
- evoluo
- Estonian
- evolutsioon
- Finnish
- evoluutio
- Georgian
- ევოლუცია evolucia
- Hebrew
- אֶבוֹלוּצְיָה evolútsya
- Icelandic
- þróun
- Latvian
- evolūcija
- Lithuanian
- evoliucija
- Norwegian
- evolusjon
- Romanian
- evoluție
- Serbo-Croatian
- evolucija
- Slovak
- evolúcia
- Slovenian
- evolucija
- Welsh
- esblygiad
The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Origin: L. evolutio an unrolling: cf. F. évolution evolution. See Evolve.
1. The act of unfolding or unrolling; hence, any process of growth or development; as, the evolution of a flower from a bud, or an animal from the egg.
2. A series of things unrolled or unfolded. “The whole evolution of ages.” Dr. Henry More
3. Geometry The formation of an involute by unwrapping a thread from a curve as an evolute. Charles Hutton
4. Arith. & Alg. The extraction of roots; — the reverse of involution.
5. Mil. & Naval A prescribed movement of a body of troops, or a vessel or fleet; any movement designed to effect a new arrangement or disposition; a maneuver.
Those evolutions are best which can be executed with the greatest celerity, compatible with regularity.— Thomas Campbell
6. Biology A general name for the history of the steps by which any living organism has acquired the morphological and physiological characters which distinguish it; a gradual unfolding of successive phases of growth or development.
7. Biology That theory of generation which supposes the germ to preëxist in the parent, and its parts to be developed, but not actually formed, by the procreative act; — opposed to epigenesis.
8. Metaphysics That series of changes under natural law which involves continuous progress from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous in structure, and from the single and simple to the diverse and manifold in quality or function. The process is by some limited to organic beings; by others it is applied to the inorganic and the psychical. It is also applied to explain the existence and growth of institutions, manners, language, civilization, and every product of human activity. The agencies and laws of the process are variously explained by different philosophers.
Evolution is to me series with development.— William E. Gladstone
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54