Meanings
- uncountablegeographyThe scientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way and at the same rates that they operate today, and sometimes in the same way everywhere in the universe as well.First known use 19th c.
There has been much puffy stuff written about whether Lyell's uniformitarianism permitted variations in intensity of causes, or whether he applied his logic in a consistent way, and whether he assumed indefinite stretches of geological time.
2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 20Antonyms: catastrophism, convulsionism
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe scientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way and at the same rates that they operate today, and sometimes in the same way everywhere in the universe as well.
Origin
From uniformitarian + -ism, coined by English polymath William Whewell in 1837.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian униформизъм
- униформизъм (uniformizăm)scientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
Finnish uniformitarianismi
- uniformitarianismiscientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
French uniformitarisme, actualisme
- uniformitarismescientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
- actualismescientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
German Aktualismus
- Aktualismusscientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
Irish aonfhoirmeachas
- aonfhoirmeachasscientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
Italian attualismo
- attualismoscientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
Polish aktualizm
- aktualizmscientific principle that natural laws and processes operated in the past in the same way that they operate today
Cite this entry
uniformitarianism. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uniformitarianism
“uniformitarianism.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uniformitarianism. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “uniformitarianism,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/uniformitarianism.
Source: uniformitarianism on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.