Phrase guide

survival of the fittest

noun · 2 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.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Natural selection.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Qualifier: evolutionary theory

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: survival, natural selection, selection

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: natural process, natural action, action, activity

History

Etymology

Coined by English philosopher and political theorist Herbert Spencer in 1864 after reading Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, and used by Darwin himself in subsequent editions of that work. In the expression, fittest means “best fitted to the environment”, not “strongest, fastest, or most physically fit”.

Across languages

Translations

22 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 最適者生存 /最适者生存 (zuìshìzhě shēngcún) — natural selection
  • Chinese Mandarin: 適者生存 /适者生存 (shìzhěshēngcún) — natural selection
  • Chinese Mandarin: 弱肉強食 /弱肉强食 (ruòròuqiángshí) — natural selection
  • Finnish: luonnonvalinta — natural selection
  • Finnish: taistelu olemassaolosta — natural selection
  • French: survie du plus apte — natural selection
  • Georgian: ყველაზე შეგუებულთა გადარჩენა (q̇velaze šeguebulta gadarčena) — natural selection
  • Georgian: ყველაზე შეგუებული ჯიშების გადარჩენა (q̇velaze šeguebuli ǯišebis gadarčena) — natural selection
  • Georgian: ყველაზე მეტად შეგუებულთა გადარჩენა (q̇velaze meṭad šeguebulta gadarčena) — natural selection
  • Georgian: ყველაზე უკეთ შეგუებულთა გადარჩენა (q̇velaze uḳet šeguebulta gadarčena) — natural selection
  • German: Überleben der Bestangepassten — natural selection
  • Irish: seasamh na dtréan — natural selection
  • Japanese: 適者生存 (tekisha-seizon) — natural selection
  • Latvian: spēcīgāko izdzīvošana — natural selection
  • Norwegian: den sterkeste overlever — natural selection
  • Polish: przetrwanie najsilniejszych — natural selection
  • Portuguese: sobrevivência do mais apto — natural selection
  • Portuguese: sobrevivência do mais forte — natural selection
  • Russian: выжива́ние сильне́йших (vyživánije silʹnéjšix) — natural selection
  • Spanish: supervivencia del más apto — natural selection
  • Tagalog: lighay ng pinakaangkop — natural selection
  • Tagalog: matira matibay — natural selection