evolution
/ˌɛvəˈluʃ(ə)n/ noun B2- A manoeuvre of troops or ships.
- A turning movement, especially of the body.
- The opening out of a curve; now more generally, the gradual transformation of a curve by a change of the conditions generating it.
- The extraction of a root from a given power.
- The act or an instance of giving off gas; emission.
- 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.
- A process of gradual change in a given system, subject, product etc., especially from simpler to more complex forms.
- The 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.
Plural evolutions
From the library
Bertuccio clasped his hands, and as, in all these evolutions, he did not let fall the lantern, the light showed his pale and altered countenance.
Before the late nineteenth century, existing dictionaries were largely inadequate, failing to capture the dynamic evolution of the English language.
Beyond the fascinating evolution of pronunciation, the Australian lexicon required immediate and extensive expansion to describe an entirely unfamiliar environment.
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