natural selection

English

Etymology

Coined by British biologist Charles Darwin in 1859 in his work On the Origin of Species.

Pronunciation

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Noun

natural selection (uncountable)

  1. (evolutionary theory) A process by which heritable traits conferring survival and reproductive advantage to individuals, or related individuals, tend to be passed on to succeeding generations and become more frequent in a population, whereas other less favourable traits tend to become eliminated; the differential survival and reproduction of phenotypes.
    • 2024 July 24, Richard Foster, “Rail reform has never been easy”, in RAIL, number 1014, page 28:
      Yes, there were hundreds of companies in existence, but a form of natural selection was taking place. Weaker companies were swallowed up by larger ones.
  2. (colloquial, sometimes offensive) A process by which poor individual choices or attributes naturally, or rightfully, lead to poor outcomes, especially death.
    Hypernym: karma
    • 2006 September 21, Jessica Smith, “Rockabilly’s ‘greatest bill ever’ goes from great to worse”, in The Martlet, volume 59, number 7, page 15:
      Lead singer “Hooch” tries hard to be offensive, telling the crowd he'd like to set some hippies and homeless people on fire, promoting drunk driving as “natural selection at work,’
    • 2023 May 27, Jess Knopp, Katie Parker, “Is this the angriest town in Britain?”, in East Anglia Bylines‎[1]:
      “He should of looked left or right or at least used the crossing up the road, I have no sympathy it’s natural selection at it’s finest. Let’s hope the parents clear off back to their own country now”

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