natural selection
nounDefinition of natural selection
: 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
Those aggressive spiders did a better job of having babies and keeping those babies alive — making hurricanes a form of natural selection favoring more combative arachnids. — Alex Harris, sun-sentinel.com, "Hurricanes may spin a more aggressive population of spiders, new study shows," 21 Aug. 2019 That suggests natural selection specifically favored short stature in this group, the authors say. — Michael Price, Science | AAAS, "‘Stature gene’ may reveal why these hunter-gatherers are among the world’s smallest humans," 13 Aug. 2019 Internecine warfare was waged in the ecological community, as groups took sides over whether we humans should interfere with the slow march of natural selection. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "How the California condor returned from the brink of extinction," 24 July 2019 Internecine warfare was waged in the ecological community, as groups took sides over whether we humans should interfere with the slow march of natural selection. — Los Angeles Times, "How the California condor returned from the brink of extinction," 24 July 2019 Researchers wanted to explore whether those differences were a result of natural selection. — Quanta Magazine, "New Turmoil Over Predicting the Effects of Genes," 23 Apr. 2019 Either way, experts believe trypophobia stems from natural selection. — Natasha Lavender, SELF, "Is Trypophobia Really a Fear of Holes or Something Else Entirely?," 26 July 2019 In theory, there is a simple solution: Don't do anything and let natural selection eliminate bees that can't resist the mite. — Erik Stokstad, Science | AAAS, "Breeders toughen up bees to resist deadly mites," 25 July 2019 But because carrying so much genetic material can also be physiologically taxing, natural selection typically followed up these duplication events by aggressively pruning unneeded sequences. — Quanta Magazine, "With ‘Downsized’ DNA, Flowering Plants Took Over the World," 16 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'natural selection.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more