the theory of evolution as expounded by later students of Charles Darwin, especially Weismann, holding that natural selection accounts for evolution and denying the inheritance of acquired characters.
any modern theory of evolution holding that species evolve by natural selection acting on genetic variation.
First recorded in 1900–05
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The overwhelming majority of biologists and geneticists are neo-Darwinists, and one primary tenet of neo-Darwinism is the idea that the genetic mutations which cause living creatures to evolve occur randomly.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2022
"The research tells us many things, including the fact that the origination rate of the HbS mutation cannot be explained from the perspective of neo-Darwinism," Livnat told Salon.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2022
A primary assumption of the evolutionary model behind neo-Darwinism is that development can be traced back through a series of subtly incremental changes.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 4, 2010
The archbishop of Vienna stated flatly that the church does not accept "neo-Darwinism."
From Time Magazine Archive
Neo-Darwinism refers to any branch of science which combines Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's discipline of genetics.
From Salon ● Feb. 5, 2022
Neo-Darwinism allows for hypertrophy, the phenomenon by which evolution overshoots its mark and produces some consequence not strictly useful to the ends of genetic replication, the human brain as case in point.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 4, 2010
I had as yet no idea that a writer could attack Neo-Darwinism without attacking evolution.
From Unconscious Memory by Butler, Samuel
When this is done the hollowness and the hatefulness of the long reign of the much more than Darwinian Neo-Darwinism is clear as day.
From The Unpopular Review, Number 19 July-December 1918 by Various
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.
