evolve
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin ēvolvō (“unroll, unfold”), from ē- (“out of”) (short form of ex) + volvō (“roll”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ɪˈvɑlv/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɪˈvɒlv/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɑlv, -ɒlv
- Hyphenation: e‧volve
Verb
evolve (third-person singular simple present evolves, present participle evolving, simple past and past participle evolved)
- To move in regular procession through a system.
- a. 1677, Matthew Hale, The Primitive Origination of Mankind, Considered and Examined According to the Light of Nature, London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbery, […], published 1677, OCLC 42005461:
- The animal soul sooner expands and evolves it self to its full orb and extent than the humane Soul
- 1840, William Whewell, The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences
- The principles which art involves, science alone evolves.
- 1870, John Shairp, Culture and Religion
- Not by any power evolved from man's own resources, but by a power which descended from above.
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- (intransitive) To change; transform.
- What began as a few lines of code has now evolved into a million-line behemoth.
- To come into being; develop.
- 1939, P. G. Wodehouse, Uncle Fred in the Springtime
- You will remove the pig, place it in the car, and drive it to my house in Wiltshire. That is the plan I have evolved.
- 2005, Donald Keene, quoting Emperor Kōmei, Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His world, 1852–1912, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, OCLC 228136992, chapter 9, page 78:
- […] I ask you, rather, to evolve a suitable plan with due deliberation and report it to me."14
- 1939, P. G. Wodehouse, Uncle Fred in the Springtime
- (biology) Of a population, to change genetic composition over successive generations through the process of evolution.
- 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], OCLC 1029641431, page 502:
- There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
- 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist:
- Oxygen levels on Earth skyrocketed 2.4 billion years ago, when cyanobacteria evolved photosynthesis: the ability to convert water and carbon dioxide into carbohydrates and waste oxygen using solar energy.
- A hundred thousand years from now, will Homo sapiens have evolved into beings unrecognisable to their ancestors?
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- (intransitive) Of a trait, to develop within a population via biological evolution.
- How long ago did beaks evolve?
- (transitive) Of a population, to acquire or develop (a trait) in the process of biological evolution.
- How long ago did birds evolve beaks?
- (chemistry) To give off (gas, such as oxygen or carbon dioxide during a reaction).
- to evolve odours
- (transitive) To cause something to change or transform.
Derived terms
- co-evolve
Related terms
- evolute
- evolution
- evolutive
- evolvable
- evolvement
- evolver
Translations
move in regular procession through a system
|
change; transform
|
come into being; develop
|
change genetic composition
|
give off gas
|
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /eˈvɔl.ve/
- Rhymes: -ɔlve
- Hyphenation: e‧vòl‧ve
Verb
evolve
- third-person singular present indicative of evolvere
Latin
Etymology
- (Classical) IPA(key): /eːˈu̯ol.u̯e/, [eːˈu̯ɔɫ̪u̯ɛ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /eˈvol.ve/, [eˈvɔlve]
Verb
ēvolve
- second-person singular present active imperative of ēvolvō
Portuguese
Verb
evolve
- inflection of evolver:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative