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preadaptation

[ pree-ad-uhp-tey-shuhn ]
/ ˌpri æd əpˈteɪ ʃən /
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noun Biology.
a structure or property that developed in an ancestral stock and was useful in a descendant in a changed environment.
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Origin of preadaptation

First recorded in 1885–90; pre- + adaptation
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use preadaptation in a sentence

  • Nothing is more wonderful in history than the unmistakable signs and proofs of preadaptation.

    George Muller of Bristol|Arthur T. Pierson

British Dictionary definitions for preadaptation

preadaptation
/ (ˌpriːædəpˈteɪʃən) /

noun
biology the possession by a species or other group of characteristics that may favour survival in a changed environment, such as the limblike fins of crossopterygian fishes, which are preadaptation to terrestrial life
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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