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
Etymology
Origin of evolutionary
Explanation
Evolutionary things have to do with how animals (or other things) change over time — this process of change is called evolution. Scientists that study living things are interested in evolutionary changes in form or behavior. It's not always easy to put the evolutionary pieces together, and scientists often have to rely on fossils to tell the whole story of evolution. Usually, evolutionary changes happen because they help the organism survive and reproduce. Many evolutionary questions are non-physical: How did the domestication of dogs change the behavior of canines from an evolutionary standpoint? When you see the word evolutionary, think "change."
Vocabulary lists containing evolutionary
Evolutionary BIology - Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity - Middle School
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Evolutionary BIology - Evidence of Common Ancestry and Diversity - High School
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Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy
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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.
Bishop says the study, published in Evolution Letters, explores a growing mismatch between evolutionary theory and what researchers are observing in nature.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 4, 2026
"Our local dinosaurs are like missing jigsaw pieces that help establish evolutionary connections, particularly around the Jurassic and Cretaceous period transition, approximately 140 million years ago."
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
"We've never seen anything like this in a mammal before," said Hannah Frank, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Tulane University School of Science and Engineering and corresponding author of the study.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 3, 2026
Together, those lines of evidence allowed the team to connect historical species names with the correct evolutionary lineages and clear up taxonomic confusion that had persisted for decades.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
The dodo, moas, and perhaps the giants of Australia/New Guinea had the misfortune suddenly to be confronted, without any evolutionary preparation, by invading modern humans possessing fully developed hunting skills.
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.
