life/dinner principle

A form of life-dinner principle — A principle of asymmetry in selective pressure between predators and prey.

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Meanings

nounlife/dinner principle (plural not attested)
  1. alternativeno pluralAlternative form of life-dinner principle.

    My colleague John Krebs and I have dubbed this the ‘life/dinner principle’. Because of the life/dinner principle, animals might at times behave in ways that are not in their own best interests, manipulated by some other animal.

    2006, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, 30th anniversary edition, page 250
Cite this entry
APA

life/dinner principle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/life%2Fdinner%20principle

MLA

“life/dinner principle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/life%2Fdinner%20principle. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “life/dinner principle,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/life%2Fdinner%20principle.

Source: life/dinner principle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.