preadaptation

[pree-ad-uh p-tey-shuh n]

noun Biology.

a structure or property that developed in an ancestral stock and was useful in a descendant in a changed environment.

Origin of preadaptation

First recorded in 1885–90; pre- + adaptation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for preadaptation

Historical Examples of preadaptation

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

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