saltationism en · NOUN
Etymology
Etymology tree English saltation Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íd͏̌d͏̌ō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ισμός (-ismós)der. English -ism English saltationism From saltation + -ism.
Meanings
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(qualifier:evolutionary theory, uncountable) The belief that evolution operates by the sudden development of new species or biological features from one generation to the next.
Gould has misled himself by his own rhetorical emphasis on the purely poetic or literary resemblance between punctuationism, on the one hand, and true saltationism on the other.
1986, Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, W. W. Norton & Company, published 2015, →ISBN:
Relateds
Translations (1)
pt saltacionismo (the belief that evolution operates by the sudden development of new species or biological features)