preadaptation

American  

[pree-ad-uhp-tey-shuhn] / ˌpri æd əpˈteɪ ʃən /

noun

Biology.

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

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preadaptation British  

/ ˌpriːædəpˈteɪʃən /

noun

1. 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

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Etymology

Origin of preadaptation

First recorded in 1885–90; pre- + adaptation

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

preadaptation

The unending richness of our culinary imaginations shows that food, like the mouth, is an example of preadaptation.

From The New Yorker ● Aug. 26, 2014

Instead, the unique body plan of pselaphines might be the preadaptation.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 10, 2012

In pselaphines, the preadaptation is even less clear.

From Scientific American ● Dec. 10, 2012

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

From George Müller of Bristol And His Witness to a Prayer-Hearing God by Pierson, Arthur T. (Arthur Tappan)

Although it may seem absolutely paradoxical, psychology is a science of matter—the science of a part of matter which has the property of preadaptation.

From The Mind and the Brain Being the Authorised Translation of L'Âme et le Corps by Binet, Alfred