evolve
Americanverb (used with object)
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evolves,
present (3rd person singular)
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evolved,
past participle, past
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evolving
present participle
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to develop gradually.
to evolve a scheme.
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to give off or emit, as odors or vapors.
verb (used without object)
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evolves,
present (3rd person singular)
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evolved,
past participle, past
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evolving
present participle
-
to come forth gradually into being; develop; undergo evolution.
The whole idea evolved from a casual remark.
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to gradually change one's opinions or beliefs.
candidates who are still evolving on the issue;
an evolved feminist mom.
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Biology. to develop by a process of evolution to a different adaptive state or condition.
The human species evolved from an ancestor that was probably arboreal.
verb
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to develop or cause to develop gradually
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(intr) (of animal or plant species) to undergo evolution
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(tr) to yield, emit, or give off (heat, gas, vapour, etc)
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To undergo biological evolution, as in the development of new species or new traits within a species.
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To develop a characteristic through the process of evolution.
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To undergo change and development, as the structures of the universe.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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evolvementnoun
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evolvernoun
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evolvableadjective
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nonevolvingadjective
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self-evolvedadjective
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self-evolvingadjective
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unevolvedadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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evolvesimple
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evolvessimple
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have evolvedperfect
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has evolvedperfect
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am evolvingprogressive
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are evolvingprogressive
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is evolvingprogressive
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have been evolvingperfect progressive
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has been evolvingperfect progressive
Past
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evolvedsimple
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had evolvedperfect
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was evolvingprogressive
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were evolvingprogressive
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had been evolvingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of evolve
First recorded in 1635–45; from Latin ēvolvere “to unroll, open, unfold,” equivalent to ē- e- 1 + volvere “to roll, turn”
Explanation
When something evolves, it changes, or develops over time, like your taste in music and clothes, which evolve as you get older. Evolve comes from the Latin word evolvere, "to unroll" — the perfect image to keep in mind when thinking of this verb. When something is unrolling or unraveling, it is doing so gradually, not all at once. Evolve describes a development that is taking its time to reach its final destination. Think change with a speed limit. Your taste in music evolved from the nursery rhymes you loved as a little kid to whatever you like today. Even places can evolve, like the old-fashioned coffee shops that evolved into Internet cafés as people began to bring their laptops with them.
Vocabulary lists containing evolve
ACT Vocabulary List
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "E"
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50 Great Words from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Executives don’t know how AI tools will evolve their business.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
I hate to give a specific external target for cost savings, only because I never know how the world is going to evolve.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026
That question, which will have to be sorted out before the trial, could determine if the proceedings evolve into a massive spectacle across traditional outlets, social media, and streaming platforms.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
"Once birds entered those new ecological niches, they were free to evolve body sizes that had simply not been possible for other dinosaurs."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
However, the Sumerians and early Mexicans happened to have been the first to evolve them in the Old World and the New World, respectively.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Culture evolves, she says, and practices can be diluted or corrupted and she is showing what has happened to this one.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
He thinks Doximity is in a strong position “as AI clinical evidence usage evolves from a bottoms-up, personal, physician-by-physician usage to a top-down, health system mandated tool usage strategy.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026
The longer the conflict evolves, obviously the more pressure on inflation, the more pressure on consumers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Growth was attributed to expanding investments in AI infrastructure as the technology evolves into more complex forms requiring more high-bandwidth memory capacity.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
The lecture evolves into a list of commandments: You will not count all the miles that are left.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
Using phylogenetic comparative methods, the researchers estimated how frequently eusociality evolved among insects with different genetic systems.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
New research from Arizona State University now suggests that genetics alone may not explain how these complex societies evolved.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 15, 2026
Yet it has evolved considerably over the years; a sixth-generation Small Block V-8 is due out in next year’s trucks.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
The California grizzly is so important to our self-image that 180 years ago, we put one on the flag that evolved into the state flag.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
However, strategies have evolved, including lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., as the global economic crisis has diminished public funding.
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
It may simply be evolving into something else.
From Salon ● Aug. 15, 2026
Experts and locals tell the BBC this is likely to be the tip of the iceberg – and a symptom of a global scam industry that is spreading, evolving, and professionalising.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
“We know the music ecosystem is evolving, and so will our approach,” said Spotify in a statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
That shift may have allowed them to escape the ecological forces that had previously prevented dinosaurs from evolving much smaller bodies.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
When the light we see today from M31 left for Earth, there were no humans on our planet, although our ancestors were evolving rapidly to our present form.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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.
