evolutionary
Americanadjective
-
pertaining to evolution or development; developmental.
the evolutionary origin of species.
-
of, relating to, or in accordance with a theory of evolution, especially in biology.
-
pertaining to or performing evolutions.
Other Word Forms
- antievolutionary adjective
- evolutionarily adverb
- nonevolutionary adjective
- preevolutionary adjective
- proevolutionary adjective
- unevolutionary adjective
Etymology
Origin of evolutionary
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It works as a split signal, which is an elegant evolutionary design in which two components of a single factor independently regulate distinct processes that must be tightly coordinated in space and time," noted Shamsi.
From Science Daily • Mar. 28, 2026
"There will be an evolutionary path to building humanity's first permanent surface outpost beyond Earth, and we will take the world along with us."
From Barron's • Mar. 24, 2026
"My PhD project is looking at the evolutionary relationships of these early crocodiles," explains Ewan.
From Science Daily • Mar. 21, 2026
Lamarck’s science was indeed revolutionary for its time, emphasizing nonreligious materialism and imagining a version of evolutionary change.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 20, 2026
But no one would seriously describe this evolutionary process as domestication, because birds and bats and other animal consumers don’t fulfill the other part of the definition: they don’t consciously grow plants.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
