unilinear

[ yoo-nuh-lin-ee-er ]

adjective

1. developing or evolving in a steady, consistent, and undeviating way.

Word History and Origins

Origin of unilinear¹

First recorded in 1925–30; uni- + linear

Example Sentences

“The social evolutionary story of humans on Earth is not a simple, unilinear upward trajectory,” she told me recently.

From New York Times

The new English mass is unilinear, lacking density; there is little opportunity for private prayer.

From Literature

Thus, the discoveries seemed to uphold the notion of human evolution as a unilinear “march of progress” from a knuckle-walking chimplike ape to our striding, upright form—a schema that has dominated paleoanthropology for the past century.

From Scientific American

“These two distinct technologies were parallel developments, not the product of a unilinear technological evolution,” the research team, led by Dennis L. Jenkins of the University of Oregon, concluded in the report.

From New York Times

Christ's experience is conceived as unilinear.

From Project Gutenberg