Darwinism
nounUK /ˈdɑːwɪnɪz(ə)m/ · US /ˈdɑɹwənˌɪzəm/
Etymology From Darwin + -ism (suffix forming names of schools of thought, systems, or theories), from the surname of the English natural philosopher, physician, and poet Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), and his grandson the biologist, geologist, and naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882). The word was apparently first applied in noun sense 1 (“Charles Darwin’s theory regarding the evolution of living organisms through natural selection”) by the English anthropologist and biologist Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895) in 1860: see the quotation.
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.
Evolutionary theory
- [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?1860 April 1, [Thomas Henry Huxley], “Art. VIII.—Darwin on the Origin of Species. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. By Charles Darwin, M.A. London. 1860 [book review].”, in The Westminster and Foreign Quarterly Review, volume XVII, number II (volume LXXIII, number CXLIV, overall), London: Savill and Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 569:
Abbreviation Short for neo-Darwinism (“the synthesis of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection with the modern genetic understanding of heredity”).
Evolutionary theory
› Charles Darwin's theory regarding the… › Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word.
Biology, Natural sciences Broadly Any of various theories in biology which apply aspects of Darwin's theory (noun sense 1) such as adaptation, competition, or gradual evolution; also, belief in such a theory.
Evolutionary theory
Pseudoscience Broadly Any of various theories, now generally discredited, which apply aspects of Darwin's theory (noun sense 1) to other situations such as the development of ideas, organizations, or social groups.
Evolutionary theory
- social Darwinism
Broadly A process of gradual evolution; also, ruthless competition for achievement or survival.
Evolutionary theory; generally; generally
Biology, Natural sciences Historical, Poetic 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).
- 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.1840 January–April, “Article IV. The Poetical Works of P[ercy] B[ysshe] Shelley. London: Moxon. 1839 [book review].”, in The British and Foreign Review; or, European Quarterly Journal, volume X, number XIX, London: Richard and John Edward Taylor, […], →OCLC, page 105:
- Derived terms
- neo-Darwinism, social Darwinism
- Related terms
- Darwin, Darwinian, Darwinianism, Darwinist, Darwinistic, Darwinistically, natural selection, survival of the fittest