資料來源 : pyDict

U進展,發展;演變,進化

資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Evolution \Ev`o*lu"tion\, n. [L. evolutio an unrolling: cf. F.
   ['e]volution evolution. See {Evolve}.]
   1. The act of unfolding or unrolling; hence, in the process
      of growth; development; as, the evolution of a flower from
      a bud, or an animal from the egg.

   2. A series of things unrolled or unfolded. ``The whole
      evolution of ages.'' --Dr. H. More.

   3. (Geom.) The formation of an involute by unwrapping a
      thread from a curve as an evolute. --Hutton.

   4. (Arith. & Alg.) The extraction of roots; -- the reverse of
      involution.

   5. (Mil. & Naval) A prescribed movement of a body of troops,
      or a vessel or fleet; any movement designed to effect a
      new arrangement or disposition; a maneuver.

            Those evolutions are best which can be executed with
            the greatest celerity, compatible with regularity.
                                                  --Campbell.

   6. (Biol.)
      (a) A general name for the history of the steps by which
          any living organism has acquired the morphological and
          physiological characters which distinguish it; a
          gradual unfolding of successive phases of growth or
          development.
      (b) That theory of generation which supposes the germ to
          pre["e]xist in the parent, and its parts to be
          developed, but not actually formed, by the procreative
          act; -- opposed to epigenesis.

   7. (Metaph.) That series of changes under natural law which
      involves continuous progress from the homogeneous to the
      heterogeneous in structure, and from the single and simple
      to the diverse and manifold in quality or function. The
      pocess is by some limited to organic beings; by others it
      is applied to the inorganic and the psychical. It is also
      applied to explain the existence and growth of
      institutions, manners, language, civilization, and every
      product of human activity. The agencies and laws of the
      process are variously explained by different philosophrs.

            Evolution is to me series with development.
                                                  --Gladstone.

資料來源 : WordNet®

evolution
     n 1: 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" [syn: {development}]
          [ant: {degeneration}]
     2: (biology) the sequence of events involved in the
        evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group
        of organisms [syn: {phylogeny}, {phylogenesis}]