evolution

• "the development of his ideas took many years"
• "the evolution of Greek civilization"
• "the slow development of her skill as a writer"

Synonyms

• developmentact of improving by expanding or enlarging or refining; a process in which something passes by degrees to a different stage (especially a more advanced or mature stage); (biology) the process of an individual organism growing organically; a recent event that has some relevance for the present situation; the act of making some area of land or water more profitable or productive or useful; a district that has been developed to serve some purpose; a state in which things are improving; processing a photosensitive material in order to make an image visible; (music) the section of a composition or movement (especially in sonata form) where the major musical themes are developed and elaborated

Synonyms

• organic evolution(biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms
• phylogeny(biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms
• phylogenesis(biology) the sequence of events involved in the evolutionary development of a species or taxonomic group of organisms