a theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin, based on the concept. It asserts that widely divergent groups of plants and animals have arisen from common ancestors as a result of natural selection of offspring which develop slight variations that make them better adapted to their environment
A term used for evolution itself (which Darwin did most to establish) and for Darwin's theory of its mechanism – natural selection. Darwin himself recognized other causes of evolution, but only natural selection accounts for the apparent ‘design’ of organisms. Neo-Darwinism unites Darwinism with Mendelism: particulate genes have a frequency in the gene pool, which is biased over the generations by non-random selection — Professor Richard Dawkins
Darwinian /dahʹwini·ən/ noun and adj
Darwinist noun and adj
[Charles Darwin d.1882, English naturalist]