Standard Lemma guide

evolutionism

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of several theories that explain the evolution of systems or organisms.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The belief in the universal presence of evolution.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

The advocacy of Darwinian evolution by natural selection (Darwinism).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

(biology) a scientific theory of the origin of species of plants and animals

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: theory of evolution, theory of organic evolution

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: scientific theory

Narrower terms: Darwinism, Lamarckism, punctuated equilibrium, theory of punctuated equilibrium

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English evolution Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English evolutionism From evolution + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

21 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: էվոլյուցիոն տեսություն (ēvolyucʻion tesutʻyun) — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Armenian: էվոլյուցիոնիզմ (ēvolyucʻionizm) — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Chinese Mandarin: 進化論 /进化论 (jìnhuàlùn) — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Chinese Mandarin: 演進主義 /演进主义 (yǎnjìn zhǔyì) — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Danish: evolutionisme — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Dutch: evolutionisme — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Esperanto: evoluismo — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Esperanto: evoluciismo — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Finnish: evoluutio-oppi — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Finnish: evolutionismi — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • German: Evolutionismus — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Ido: evolucionismo — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Japanese: 進化主義 (shinkashugi) — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Kazakh: эволюцияшылдық (évolüsiäşyldyq) — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Manx: aafilleydys — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Norwegian Bokmål: evolusjonisme — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: evolusjonisme — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Polish: ewolucjonizm — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Romanian: evoluționism — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Russian: эволюционизм (evoljucionizm) — any evolutionary theory or belief system
  • Serbo-Croatian: evolucionizam — any evolutionary theory or belief system