punctuationist en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree English punctuation Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Hellenic *-tās Ancient Greek -τής (-tḗs) Ancient Greek -ῐστής (-ĭstḗs)bor. Latin -istader. Old French -istebor. Middle English -ist English -ist English punctuationist From punctuation + -ist.
Meanings
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In evolutionary biology, one who believes in punctuationism.
Since most of the life of a species, on the punctuationist view, is spent in unchanging stasis, and since a species has a discrete beginning and end, it follows that, to a punctuationist, a species can be said to have a definite, measurable ‘life span’.
1986, Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, W. W. Norton & Company, published 2015, →ISBN:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| punctuationists | Number=Plur | lexicographic |