evolution

noun

1. A change of position.

2. militaryA manoeuvre of troops or ships.

3. chiefly dancesportsA turning movement, especially of the body.

4. An unfolding.

5. now rareThe act or process of unfolding or opening out; the progression of events in regular succession.

6. geometryThe opening out of a curve; now more generally, the gradual transformation of a curve by a change of the conditions generating it.

7. mathematicsnow chiefly historicalThe extraction of a root from a given power.

8. chemistryThe act or an instance of giving off gas; emission.

9. Process of development.

10. Development; the act or result of developing what was implicit in an idea, argument etc.

    “The ongoing evolution of Lolita subculture fashion includes, among other things, the ballet style.”

11. A process of gradual change in a given system, subject, product etc., especially from simpler to more complex forms.

    “Among other forms of change, the evolution of transportation has involved modification, diversification, convergence, divergence, hybridization, differentiation, and naturally, selection.”

12. biologyThe transformation of animals, plants and other living things into different forms (now understood as a change in genetic composition) by the accumulation of changes over successive generations.

13. A process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage)

    “the development of his ideas took many years”

    “the evolution of Greek civilization”

    “the slow development of her skill as a writer”

    Similar: development

14. (biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms

    Similar: organic evolution, phylogeny, phylogenesis