darwinism
/ˈdɑɹwənˌɪzəm/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.73 in modern English
Meaning
noun
Charles Darwin's theory regarding the evolution of living organisms through natural selection (set out chiefly in his works On the Origin of Species, 1859; and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 1871); also, belief in this theory.
Uncountable
noun
Charles Darwin's theory regarding the evolution of living organisms through natural selection (set out chiefly in his works On the Origin of Species, 1859; and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 1871); also, belief in this theory.
Uncountable
noun
Charles Darwin's theory regarding the evolution of living organisms through natural selection (set out chiefly in his works On the Origin of Species, 1859; and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 1871); also, belief in this theory.
Uncountable
noun
Charles Darwin's theory regarding the evolution of living organisms through natural selection (set out chiefly in his works On the Origin of Species, 1859; and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 1871); also, belief in this theory.
Uncountable
noun
Charles Darwin's theory regarding the evolution of living organisms through natural selection (set out chiefly in his works On the Origin of Species, 1859; and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 1871); also, belief in this theory.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Erasmus Darwin's poetic style, or theory of natural philosophy suggesting that living organisms developed from simpler lifeforms (set out in his work Zoonomia, 1794–1796).
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Alternative letter-case form of Darwinism.
Example Sentences
- "[W]e do not hesitate to assert that it [Darwin's theory] is as superior to any preceding or contemporary hypothesis, in the extent of observational and experimental basis on which it rests, in its rigorously scientific method, and in its power of explaining biological phenomena, as was the hypothesis of [Nicolaus] Copernicus to the speculations of Ptolemy. But the planetary orbits turned out to be not quite circular after all, and grand as was the service Copernicus rendered to science, [Johannes] Kepler and [Isaac] Newton had to come after him. What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little to circular?"
- "social Darwinism"
- "The blank verse of Queen Mab differs little from that measure as it appears in the poems of Akenside, who exercised considerable influence over such poets as escaped from the popular vortex of Darwinism."
Etymology
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈdɑɹwənˌɪzəm/
- British English: /ˈdɑːwɪnɪz(ə)m/