evolutionist
Americannoun
-
a person who believes in or supports a theory of evolution, especially in biology.
-
a person who supports a policy of gradual growth or development rather than sudden change or expansion.
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
- antievolutionist noun
- antievolutionistic adjective
- evolutionism noun
- evolutionistic adjective
- evolutionistically adverb
- nonevolutionist noun
- preevolutionist noun
- proevolutionist adjective
Etymology
Origin of evolutionist
Explanation
An evolutionist is someone who believes that all organic life evolves from generation to generation through a process called natural selection. Evolutionist theories are those that are based on this idea. The theory of evolution––long accepted by all credible scientists––is questioned by fundamentalist Christians, who prefer the Biblical creation story. They are called Creationists, and evolutionist-creationist battles rage wherever science is taught.
Vocabulary lists containing evolutionist
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.
“That’s quite exciting,” says molecular evolutionist Andrew Roger, who studies the evolution of organelles at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, because it suggests that evolving these transport systems anew isn’t as difficult as previously thought.
From Scientific American • Jun. 13, 2022
In later life, they became a "body evolutionist", proposing a new gender that was beyond male and female.
From BBC • Mar. 14, 2020
It was not about religion—Croizat was as complete an evolutionist as Darwin had been.
From Salon • Jan. 12, 2014
In an elegant close reading of Darwin's final book on earthworms, alongside family letters, Phillips highlighted what the great evolutionist called his "slow & silent side attacks" on sceptics.
From The Guardian • Jun. 1, 2012
She would trace us back to that beginning time like some evolutionist.
From "Native Speaker" by Chang-rae Lee
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.
