evolution
1.
2.
3. Biology. a. The theory that groups of organisms change with passage of time, mainly as a result of natural selection, so that descendants differ morphologically and physiologically from their ancestors. b. The historical development of a related group of organisms; phylogeny.
4. A movement that is part of a set of ordered movements.
5. Mathematics. The extraction of a root of a quantity.
[Latin ēvolūtiō, ēvolūtiōn-, from ēvolūtus past participle of ēvolvere, to unroll. See
evolu