Meanings
nounmicroevolution (countable and uncountable, plural microevolutions)
plural microevolutions
- countableuncountableSmall-scale changes in the history of life, such as changes in allele frequencies in a population (over a few generations); also known as change at or below the species level.
“It basically hasn’t become this massive chewing and grinding machine that it becomes later,” Mr. Martin said. The change would have been the result of microevolution, or an evolutionary change occurring within a species.
2020 November 9, Nicholas St Fleur, “How a Human Cousin Adapted to a Changing Climate”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Origin
From micro- + evolution, coined by Robert Greenleaf Leavitt in 1909.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic اَلتَّطَوُّر الصَّغِير
- اَلتَّطَوُّر الصَّغِير (at-taṭawwur aṣ-ṣaḡīr)small-scale changes in the history of life
Catalan microevolució
- microevoluciósmall-scale changes in the history of life
German Mikroevolution
- Mikroevolutionsmall-scale changes in the history of life
Cite this entry
APA
microevolution. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/microevolution
MLA
“microevolution.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/microevolution. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “microevolution,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/microevolution.
Source: microevolution on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.