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survival of the fittest

 - 4 dictionary results

survival of the fittest

 
Use survival of the fittest in a Sentence
–noun
1. (not in technical use) natural selection.
2. a 19th-century concept of human society, inspired by the principle of natural selection, postulating that those who are eliminated in the struggle for existence are the unfit.
Origin:
1860–65
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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survival of the fittest  
n.  Natural selection conceived of as a struggle for life in which only those organisms best adapted to existing conditions are able to survive and reproduce.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: sur·viv·al of the fittest
Pronunciation: s&r-'vI-v&l-
Function: noun
: NATURAL SELECTION
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Idioms & Phrases

survival of the fittest

Those best adapted to particular conditions will succeed in the long run, as in They've had to close a dozen of their stores, but the ones in the western part of the state are doing wellit's the survival of the fittest. This phrase was invented by Herbert Spencer in Principles of Biology (1864) to describe Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection of living species. By the early 1900s it was being transferred to other areas.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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