survival of the fittest

noun

1. (not in technical use) natural selection.
2. a 19th-century concept of human society, inspired by the principle of natural selection, postulating that those who are eliminated in the struggle for existence are the unfit.

survival of the fittest

noun

1. See natural selection
   a popular term for natural selection

Word History and Origins

Origin of survival of the fittest¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Idioms and Phrases

Those best adapted to particular conditions will succeed in the long run, as in They've had to close a dozen of their stores, but the ones in the western part of the state are doing well—it's the survival of the fittest . This phrase was invented by Herbert Spencer in Principles of Biology (1864) to describe Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection of living species. By the early 1900s it was being transferred to other areas.