hopeful monster

noun

Biology.

1. a hypothetical individual organism that, by means of a fortuitous macromutation permitting an adaptive shift to a new mode of life, becomes the founder of a new type of organism and a vehicle of macroevolution.

Word History and Origins

Origin of hopeful monster¹

First recorded in 1933; phrase introduced by German geneticist Richard B. Goldschmidt (1879–1958)

Example Sentences

Yet her emotions are also given fair shrift, and ultimately she becomes the definition of a “hopeful monster,” a term derived fittingly from evolution sciences describing a bridge between stages of a species.

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Inspiration is the hopeful monster of science.

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The emergence of a single mutation that gives such a big advantage is derided by biologists as a “hopeful monster” theory; most evolution is gradual, operating on many genes, not one.

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Speaking to the BBC on grounds of anonymity the tweeter - Twitter handle The Hopeful Monster - revealed more about his company's paradoxical attitude towards office technology.

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Like the studies of Brusatte and others, Abzhanov’s work challenges the hopeful monster theory, and it does so on a genetic scale.

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