English Explanatory Dictionary

natural selection

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A process by which heritable traits conferring survival and reproductive advantage to individuals, or related individuals, tend to be passed on to succeeding generations and become more frequent in a population, whereas other less favourable traits tend to become eliminated; the differential survival and reproduction of phenotypes.
  2. A process by which poor individual choices or attributes naturally, or rightfully, lead to poor outcomes, especially death.

Pronunciation

en-us-natural selection.ogg

Word forms

natural selection

Etymology

Coined by British biologist Charles Darwin in 1859 in his work On the Origin of Species.

Synonyms

survival of the fittest

Related words

artificial selection sexual selection supernatural selection law of the jungle Darwin Award

Translations

Arabic: اِنْتِقَاءٌ طَبِيعِيّ Armenian: բնական ընտրություն Catalan: selecció natural Chinese Cantonese: 自然選擇 /自然选择 Chinese Cantonese: 天擇 /天择 Chinese: 自然選擇 /自然选择 Chinese: 天擇 /天择 Chinese Mandarin: 自然選擇 /自然选择 Chinese Mandarin: 天擇 /天择 Czech: přírodní výběr Danish: naturlig selektion Dutch: natuurlijke selectie Esperanto: natura selektado Finnish: luonnonvalinta French: sélection naturelle Galician: selección natural Georgian: ბუნებრივი გადარჩევა German: natürliche Selektion German: natürliche Auslese German: natürliche Zuchtwahl German: natürlichi Selektion Greek: φυσική επιλογή Hebrew: ברירה טבעית Hindi: प्राकृतिक वरण Hungarian: természetes kiválasztódás Icelandic: náttúruval Indonesian: seleksi alami Italian: selezione naturale Japanese: 自然選択 Japanese: 自然淘汰 Kazakh: қозғаушы сұрыпталу Korean: 자연선택 Korean: 자연도태 Latvian: dabiskā izlase Lithuanian: natūrali̇̀ atrankà Malay: pemilihan semula jadi Malay: pemilihan alamiah Māori: whiringa māori Mongolian: байгалийн шалгарал Norwegian Bokmål: naturlig seleksjon Norwegian Bokmål: naturlig utvalg Norwegian Nynorsk: naturleg seleksjon Norwegian Nynorsk: naturleg utval Polish: dobór naturalny Polish: selekcja naturalna Portuguese: seleção natural Romanian: selecție naturală Russian: есте́ственный отбо́р Serbo-Croatian: природна селекција Serbo-Croatian: prirodna selekcija Slovak: prirodzený výber Spanish: selección natural Swedish: naturligt urval
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