| 释义 |
ˈgradualist n. and a.
[f. gradual a. + -ist.]
A. n. An advocate of gradual action.
1835H. G. Otis in Liberator V. 744 The Colonization Society..are gradualists. 1880Libr. Univ. Knowl. (N.Y.) IX. 235 Mr. Lundy, like most of the anti-slavery men of that day was a gradualist, fearing..that a sudden emancipation would be dangerous to the public welfare.
B. adj. Also graduaˈlistic. Of or pertaining to gradualism.
1926Glasgow Herald 25 Jan. 10 The duty of the Left Wing would be to fight with all its power against evolutionary and gradualistic theories. 1931Economist 17 Oct. 698/2 It [sc. Labour] now sees no chance of securing these ends by merely gradualist methods within the general structure of the capitalist system. 1931Time & Tide 7 Nov. 1273/1 And this most effective body of Labour is gradualist, not revolutionary. 1945Chicago Daily News 4 Oct. 12/7 On a higher level of thought, we've labeled ourselves ‘gradualists’; and stilled any uneasy twinge of conscience by assuming that everything will wash out in the fullness of time. 1947Koestler in Partisan Rev. XIV. ii. 142 You know that we are a reformist, gradualist movement. 1953K. Britton J. S. Mill v. 170 Such a solution..allows us to regard inductive inference as inconclusive and gradualistic. 196020th Cent. Nov. 391 The fighters of the country are not generally the gradualists. 1961Listener 21 Dec. 1059/2 We cannot sit back and hope that..Africa will retain our gradualist and liberal traditions.
Add:[A.] 2. Biol. One who views evolution as a process of continuous gradual change. Cf. punctuationalist n. s.v. *punctuational a.
1970G. G. Simpson in Hecht & Steere Ess. Evol. & Genetics ii. 79 Darwin was a gradualist. 1983E. C. Minkoff Evolutionary Biol. xxi. 352/2 The controversy between gradualists and punctuationalists has done much to spark a renewed interest in evolutionary biology, and particularly in evolutionary theory. 1983R. Dawkins Evolution from Men to Molecules xx. 418 In the modern context..I do not think Darwin should be labelled a strong gradualist. In the modern context, I suspect that he would be rather open-minded. 1986[see punctuationist n. s.v. *punctuation n.].
[B.] For def. read: Of or pertaining to gradualism or gradualists. (Further example.)
1987New Scientist 24 Dec. 28/2 A study has been published that backs up the gradualist view of evolution. |