evolution
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
the process by which living things change over many generations to adapt to their environment.
the process of cumulative change in the heritable characteristics of a population over successive generations.
Simple“In biology class, we learned about the evolution of birds from small dinosaurs.”
In context“Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection remains the foundational principle of modern biological science, explaining the vast diversity of life on Earth.”
Synonymsadaptationnatural selection - 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
the slow and steady development of an idea, a system, or a situation.
the gradual development of something into a more complex or advanced state.
Simple“The evolution of the mobile phone has changed how we communicate every day.”
In context“The evolution of the company from a small family business into a global corporation took nearly half a century of careful expansion.”
SynonymsAntonyms - 03 C2 Proficiency
a planned series of movements or a change in position.
a pattern of movements or a coordinated change in position, often in a military or dance context.
Simple“The dancers performed a complex evolution across the stage.”
In context“The naval fleet executed a series of complex evolutions to demonstrate their readiness for the upcoming joint exercises.”
- 04 C2 Proficiency
the process of finding the root of a number.
the extraction of a root from a power or a number.
Simple“Evolution is the mathematical term for finding a square root.”
In context“In classical arithmetic, evolution refers to the operation of finding the root of a quantity, the inverse of involution.”
Synonymsroot extractionAntonymsinvolution
Usage biological evolution · evolution homogeneous · evolution of
“Naidu suspects that black hole stars play a major role in the evolution of galaxies.”
“The change began thousands of years before European contact, providing unusually strong evidence that diet can shape human evolution.”
Borrowed from Latin ēvolūtiō, ēvolūtiōnis (“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 Czech vývoj, Serbo-Croatian развој, Russian разви́ть (razvítʹ), развива́ть (razvivátʹ), разви́ться (razvítʹsja), развива́ться (razvivátʹsja), Russian разви́тие (razvítije), related to Proto-Slavic *viti (whence Czech vít, Russian вить (vitʹ)).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.