| 释义 |
evolutionary, a.|ɛvəˈljuːʃənərɪ|
[f. as evolutional a. + -ary.]
1. Of or pertaining to evolution or development; evolutional.
1846Worcester cites Eclectic Rev. 1875N. Amer. Rev. CXX. 255 The bond of continuity which makes man the central link between his ancestors and his posterity is evolutionary. 1883H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. xii. (1884) 407 The development throughout obeys the evolutionary law in being from the general to the special.
b. Of language, opinions, methods, etc.: In accordance with the theory of evolution. Hence qualifying personal designations: Following evolutionary methods.
1864F. Hall in Wilson tr. Vishnu Purana III. 25 The evolutionary doctrine. 1881G. Allen Vignettes fr. Nat. x. 93 These self-same..outer flowers..make the guelder rose so interesting a plant in the eyes of the evolutionary biologist. 1876C. E. Appleton Life & Lit. Relics (1881) 184 Its process, as we should now say in evolutionary language. 1881Romanes in Nature XXIII. 501 The evolutionary psychologist.
2. Of, pertaining to, or performing the evolutions or manœuvres of troops or ships of war.
1859in Worcester. 1861J. H. Macdonald Evolut. Battalion 8 The first object of all evolutionary operations in the field..is to move towards the enemy. 1881Army & Navy Gaz. 23 July 570/2 The French Evolutionary squadron will visit Oran..Algiers, etc. 1890Daily News 9 May 5/6 The evolutionary grounds on which the special review is to be held..cover a magnificent area of level steppe.
▸ evolutionary biologist n. an expert in or student of evolutionary biology.
1881G. Allen Vignettes from Nature x. 93 Those self-same..outer flowers..make the guelder rose so interesting a plant in the eyes of the *evolutionary biologist. 1962C. A. Moore Philos. & Culture 481 To the evolutionary biologist, man is an item in the course of evolution, governed by the natural law of existence. 2001Science 6 July 45/3 Evolutionary biologist John Maynard Smith..is honored..for his theory, called ‘evolutionarily stable strategy’ or ESS, which uses game theory to explain cooperative behavior.
▸ evolutionary biology n. the branch of biology concerned with the evolution of living organisms; evolutionary theory as it impinges on other areas of biology; (more generally) an area of biology considered in the light of evolutionary theory.
1876St. G. Mivart Contemp. Evol. iv. 140 The second instance is that of the apparent conflict between *evolutionary biology and Christian dogma, and indeed, no better test question as to the effect of scientific progress on Christianity could well be devised. 1920Internat. Jrnl. Ethics 31 19 We have from one of the foremost pioneers of evolutionary biology [sc. T. H. Huxley] a clean cut rejection of ‘evolutionary ethics’. 1973Lancet 5 May 1003/1 Based on considerations of evolutionary biology, tobacco smoking may be a self-selected behavioural regulator of physiological homœstasis. 2000Economist 15 July (Bk. Review section) 9/2 The study of collaboration, conflict, and cheating between genes, sub-cellular organelles,..and cells..is a fascinating aspect of recent evolutionary biology. |