evolutionary

[ ev-uh-loo-shuh-ner-eeor, especially British, ee-vuh- ]

adjective

1. pertaining to evolution or development; developmental:

   the evolutionary origin of species.

2. of, relating to, or in accordance with a theory of evolution, especially in biology.
3. pertaining to or performing evolutions.

Other Words From

• evo·lution·ari·ly adverb
• anti·evo·lution·ary adjective
• nonev·o·lution·ary adjective
• preev·o·lution·ary adjective
• proev·o·lution·ary adjective
• unev·o·lution·ary adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of evolutionary¹

First recorded in 1840–50; evolution + -ary

Example Sentences

Although biological evolution takes millions of years, artificial evolution—modeling evolutionary processes inside a computer—can take place in hours, or even minutes.

From Singularity Hub 

Lieberman uses an evolutionary lens to understand why many of us aren’t motivated to exercise.

From Outside Online

These behaviors are often lauded as a male evolutionary imperative.

From Nautilus

In proteins from a little later in the reconstructed evolutionary sequence, she detected two fingerprints, one for the ancestral fold but also one for a newer fold, although the new fold remained rare.

From Quanta Magazine

“A sample size of three is small, but these are really difficult experiments to do,” says Chris Faulkes, an evolutionary biologist at Queen Mary University of London who wasn’t involved in the study.

From Science News

For his tireless assault on evolutionary biology and downsizing the deity to fit within science, I give Meyer second place.

From The Daily Beast

To regain their relevancy, Democrats need to go back to their evolutionary roots.

From The Daily Beast

It combines pickup techniques supposedly inspired by evolutionary psychology with self-help pseudoscience.

From The Daily Beast

This change was relatively rapid in evolutionary terms, and a lot of diverse critters came out of it.

From The Daily Beast

Anyone who takes pot shots at a lovely wading bird is a hopeless defective, in my view, an evolutionary mistake.

From The Daily Beast

The creation doctrine is as old almost as thinking man; the evolutionary doctrine belongs in effect to our own generation.

From Project Gutenberg

With the scientific world, of course, its victory was speedy; the new doctrine was in line with recognized evolutionary teaching.

From Project Gutenberg

We, ourselves, scientists tell us, are the result of a long series of evolutionary development.

From Project Gutenberg

If anything the evolutionary deity is more objectionable than the older one.

From Project Gutenberg

The fossil record of the kangaroo rats is so scanty that one can but speculate on the evolutionary sequence.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• developmental
• metamorphic
• mutative
• transformative