Lamarck

American  

[luh-mahrk, la-mark] / ləˈmɑrk, laˈmark /

noun

1. Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de 1744–1829, French naturalist: pioneer in the field of comparative anatomy.

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Lamarck British  

/ lamark /

noun

1. Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet (ʒɑ̃ batist pjɛr ɑ̃twan də mɔnɛ), Chevalier de Lamarck. 1744–1829, French naturalist. He outlined his theory of organic evolution (Lamarckism) in Philosophie Zoologique (1809)

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Lamarck Scientific  

/ lə-märk′,lä- /

1. French naturalist who introduced the taxonomic distinction between vertebrates and invertebrates. His theory that the acquired characteristics of a species could be inherited by later generations was a forerunner to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, although it was eventually discredited.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Lamarck

The French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had the wrong idea about the way evolution works.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

Lamarck invented the term “invertebrates” and, the author notes, his humble new field of study helped steer him toward his “momentous new theory of the history of life.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

In their classic theories of evolution, both Jean Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwin suggested that giraffes' long necks evolved to help them reach leaves high up in a tree, avoiding competition with other herbivores.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 3, 2024

The inscription on the statue of Lamarck that stands at the gates of the Jardin des Plantes in Paris describes him as the “founder of the doctrine of evolution.”

From Textbooks ● Apr. 25, 2013

On the wall behind his half-ton desk hangs the only image: a charcoal portrait of the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr