natural selection

noun

: a natural process that results in the survival and reproductive success of individuals or groups best adjusted to their environment and that leads to the perpetuation of genetic qualities best suited to that particular environment

Examples of natural selection in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In some species, natural selection is recalibrating behavior so that individuals are better suited to their new circumstances. —Lee Alan Dugatkin, Scientific American, 14 May 2024

Darwin saw his theory of natural selection as an occasion for humility, relating humans to other species; Dickinson, whose poetry reflects her extensive scientific education and interest in Darwin’s ideas, depicted the natural world with both botanical specificity and attention to its splendors. —The New Yorker, 12 June 2024

Noah Whiteman, a University of California, Berkeley, evolutionary biologist and author of Most Delicious Poison, says the adaptations enabling this are favored by natural selection. —Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 June 2024

Urban heat islands should produce different natural selection pressures for thermal tolerance in urban populations of lizards compared with forest populations. —Lee Alan Dugatkin, Scientific American, 14 May 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1842, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

natural selection

noun

: a natural process in which individuals or groups best adapted to the conditions under which they live survive and produce young and poorly adapted forms are eliminated

Medical Definition

natural selection

noun

: a natural process that results in the survival and reproductive success of individuals or groups best adjusted to their environment and that leads to the perpetuation of genetic qualities best suited to that particular environment