natural selection
nounEtymology Coined by British biologist Charles Darwin in 1859 in his work On the Origin of Species.
1
A process by which heritable traits conferring survival and reproductive advantage to individuals, or related individuals, tend to be passed on to succeeding generations and become more frequent in a population, whereas other less favourable traits tend to become eliminated; the differential survival and reproduction of phenotypes.
Evolutionary theory
- I believe that a careful consideration of the structure of a species, and of the peculiar physical and organic conditions by which it is surrounded, or has been surrounded in past ages, will often, as in this case, throw much light on the origin of its habits and instincts. These again, combined with changes in external conditions, react upon structure, and by means of "variation" and "natural selection", both are kept in harmony.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume I, London: Macmillan and Co., page 419:
- Yes, there were hundreds of companies in existence, but a form of natural selection was taking place. Weaker companies were swallowed up by larger ones.2024 July 24, Richard Foster, “Rail reform has never been easy”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 28:
2
Colloquial, Offensive, Sometimes A process by which poor individual choices or attributes naturally, or rightfully, lead to poor outcomes, especially death.
- Lead singer “Hooch” tries hard to be offensive, telling the crowd he'd like to set some hippies and homeless people on fire, promoting drunk driving as “natural selection at work,’2006 September 21, Jessica Smith, “Rockabilly’s ‘greatest bill ever’ goes from great to worse”, in The Martlet, volume 59, number 7, page 15:
- “He should of looked left or right or at least used the crossing up the road, I have no sympathy it’s natural selection at it’s finest. Let’s hope the parents clear off back to their own country now”2023 May 27, Jess Knopp, Katie Parker, “Is this the angriest town in Britain?”, in East Anglia Bylines:
- Synonyms
- survival of the fittest