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evolve

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin ēvolvō (“unroll, unfold”), from ē- (“out of”) (short form of ex) + volvō (“roll”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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evolve (third-person singular simple present evolves, present participle evolving, simple past and past participle evolved)

  1. (transitive)
    1. To move (something) in regular procession through a system.
      Synonyms: develop, progress
      • a. 1677 (date written), 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:
        The animal soul sooner expands and evolves it self to its full orb and extent than the humane Soul
    2. To change or transform (something).
      Synonyms: develop; see also Thesaurus:convert
      Over several years the author evolved the story originally drafted as a novella into a real epic.
    3. To cause (something) to come into being or develop.
      Synonyms: contrive, generate; see also Thesaurus:create
      • 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.
      • 1979 August 25, Vicki Gabriner, Susan Freundlich, “Bridging the Gaps between Deaf and Hearing Lesbians”, in Gay Community News, volume 7, number 6, page 8:
        The interpreter has spent a whole lot of time working the music before the performance, trying to evolve the most accurate translation possible.
      • 2005, Donald Keene, quoting Emperor Kōmei, Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His world, 1852–1912‎[1], New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, chapter 9, page 78:
        […] I ask you, rather, to evolve a suitable plan with due deliberation and report it to me."14
    4. (biology, of a population, a species, etc.)
      1. (transitive) To acquire or develop (a trait) in the process of biological evolution.
        How long ago did birds evolve beaks?
        • 2013 September-October, Katie L. Burke, “In the News”, in American Scientist‎[2], archived from the original on 3 September 2013:
          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.
      2. (chiefly intransitive) To change genetic composition over successive generations through the process of evolution.
        A hundred thousand years from now, will Homo sapiens have evolved into beings unrecognizable to their ancestors?
        • 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Recapitulation and Conclusion”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 490:
          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.
        • 1989 May, John Boslough, “Searching for the Secrets of Gravity”, in National Geographic, volume 175, number 5, pages 578-579:
          I like to envision a species of humanoids that, having evolved on the moon with one-sixth earth's gravity, are double our height but too spindly to play basketball.
        • 2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 204:
          The ice age was nearly two million years old by the time the woolly mammoth evolved.
    5. (chemistry) To give off (a gas such as carbon dioxide or oxygen) during a chemical reaction.
      to evolve odours
    6. (obsolete) To wind or unwind (something).
      • [1795], James Woodhouse, “[To William Shenstone, Esq. in His Sickness.] Elegy VI. To a Lady, on the Language of the Birds.”, in William Shenstone, The Poetical Works of William Shenstone. […], Cooke’s edition, London: […] C. Cooke, […], →OCLC, page 54, lines 9–12:
        And come, my Muſe! that lov'ſt the ſylvan ſhade, / Evolve the mazes, and the miſt diſpel; / Tranſlate the ſong; convince my doubting maid / No ſolemn Derviſe can explain ſo vvell— […]
  2. (intransitive)
    1. To move in regular procession through a system.
      • 1840, William Whewell, “Of Art and Science”, in The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded upon Their History. […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […]; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: J. and J. J. Deighton, →OCLC, part II (Of Knowledge), book XI (Of the Construction of Science), paragraph 6, page 275:
        [T]he 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.
    2. To change, to transform.
      What began as a few lines of code has now evolved into a million-line behemoth.
      • 2026 March 11, Chad de Guzman, “Who Is Balendra Shah, the Rapper On Track to Become Nepal’s Next Prime Minister”, in TIME‎[3], archived from the original on 11 March 2026:
        An aide of Shah told Reuters that Shah had an early penchant for poetry that evolved into an affinity for rap music.
    3. (biology) Of a trait; to develop within a population through biological evolution.
      How long ago did beaks evolve?

Derived terms

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Translations

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Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /eˈvɔl.ve/
  • Rhymes: -ɔlve
  • Hyphenation: e‧vòl‧ve

Verb

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evolve

  1. third-person singular present indicative of evolvere

Latin

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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ēvolve

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of ēvolvō

Portuguese

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Verb

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evolve

  1. inflection of evolver:
    1. third-person singular present indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative
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