evolution
/ˌɛvəˈluʃ(ə)n/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.41 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "Mean while, he never failed to be present, when any regiment, or corps of men, were drawn out to be exercised and reviewed, and accompanied them in all their evolutions […]."
- "Major Holroyd, who acted as the General, was extremely polite, and attentive, and came to us between every evolution, to explain and talk over the manoeuvres."
- "Our necromancer […] taking up his wand, waved it around his head in a very mysterious motion, with a view of intimidating these forward visitants, who, far from being awed by this sort of evolution, became more and more obstreperous […]."
- "It was a critical instant: the pirouette -- it would fail, she feared. … the rapid whirl achieved in exact time, the whole evolution executed to perfection."
- "… as he beheld the tenfold pirouette of a lovely girl, which presented to the public eye the whole of her form and figure; … to praise the dexterity and ease with which the unfortunate and degraded creature had performed the ungraceful evolution, the only merit of which, is the gross exposition of person, at which modesty shudders […]"
- ""Look now, that pirouette -- my stars! how Beauchamp would stare to see his darling perform such an evolution!""
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin ēvolūtiō, ēvolūtiōnis (“the act of unrolling, unfolding or opening (of a book)”), from ēvolūtus, perfect passive participle of ēvolvō (“unroll, unfold”), from ex + volvō (“roll”). Compare typologically Czech vývoj, Serbo-Croatian развој, Russian разви́ть (razvítʹ), развива́ть (razvivátʹ), разви́ться (razvítʹsja), развива́ться (razvivátʹsja), Russian разви́тие (razvítije), related to Proto-Slavic *viti (whence Czech vít, Russian вить (vitʹ)).
Origin
- Source language: Latin
Word Breakdown
- Root: ēvolūtiō
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˌɛvəˈluʃ(ə)n/
- British English: /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
biological evolution
co-evolution
convergent evolution
cosmic evolution
cultural evolution
deistic evolution
emergent evolution
Evolution Day