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punctuationism

noun

In evolutionary biology, belief that evolution does not proceed at a steady pace, but instead is characterized by periods of stasis, punctuated by brief (within several hundred-thousand years) periods of rapid change.

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Meanings

nounpunctuationism (uncountable)

uncountablegovernmentIn evolutionary biology, belief that evolution does not proceed at a steady pace, but instead is characterized by periods of stasis, punctuated by brief (within several hundred-thousand years) periods of rapid change.
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

Origin

From punctuation + -ism.

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Cite this entry

APA

punctuationism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punctuationism

MLA

“punctuationism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punctuationism. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “punctuationism,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/punctuationism.

Source: punctuationism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.