Word.ws English Dictionary

Red Queen hypothesis

Red Queen hypothesis proper noun: an evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive while pitted against other evolving organisms in an ever-changing environment.

Proper noun

the Red Queen hypothesis

  1. (evolutionary theory) An evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive while pitted against other evolving organisms in an ever-changing environment.
    • Stenseth and Maynard Smith (1984) reformulated this hypothesis by including the idea of evolutionary lag and dismissing Van Valen's zero-sum assumption. They contrast the Red-Queen hypothesis with the stationary hypothesis, q.v. Hoffman and Kitchell (1984 in Lewin 1985a, 400) offer some support for...2000, Edward M. Barrows, Animal Behavior Desk Reference, 2nd edition, CRC Press, page 358
    • We extend the Red Queen hypothesis, a mechanism proposed to maintain genetic diversity at the population level, to explain diversity at the community level.2008, Keith Clay et al., “Chapter 7: Red Queen Communities”, in Richard S. Ostfeld, Felicia Keesing, Valerie T. Eviner, editors, Infectious Disease Ecology, Princeton University Press, page 145

Forms of Red Queen hypothesis

alternative formRed-Queen hypothesis
alternative formRed Queen's hypothesis

Origin of Red Queen hypothesis

An allusion to a remark by the Red Queen in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass: Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. The hypothesis was advanced in 1973 by American biologist Leigh Van Valen, who called it the Red Queen's hypothesis.

Questions about Red Queen hypothesis

What does Red Queen hypothesis mean?
Red Queen hypothesis means an evolutionary hypothesis which proposes that organisms must constantly adapt, evolve, and proliferate not merely to gain reproductive advantage, but also simply to survive while pitted against other evolving organisms in an ever-changing environment.
What part of speech is Red Queen hypothesis?
Red Queen hypothesis is a proper noun.

Words near Red Queen hypothesis in the dictionary

  1. red pulps
  2. red pumpkin bug
  3. red pumpkin bugs
  4. red pussy hair
  5. red pussy hairs
  6. Red Queen hypothesis
  7. Red Queen's hypothesis
  8. red rag
  9. red rag to a bull
  10. red rags
  11. red rags to a bull

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Red Queen hypothesis (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Red Queen hypothesis.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/red_queen_hypothesis. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.