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unilineal evolution

unilineal evolution noun: the theory, now considered obsolete, that societies evolve in a single direction toward complexity, progress, and civilization.

Noun

unilineal evolution (usually uncountable, plural unilineal evolutions)

  1. (usually) The theory, now considered obsolete, that societies evolve in a single direction toward complexity, progress, and civilization.
    • Of course, when we speak in broadly evolutionary terms, to do so need not imply the simplistic notion of unilineal evolution, with the suggestion that human developments always follow the same sequential pattern.2008, Colin Renfrew, Prehistory: The Making of the Human Mind, Modern Library, →ISBN, page 89

Synonyms of unilineal evolution

Forms of unilineal evolution

pluralunilineal evolutions

Questions about unilineal evolution

What does unilineal evolution mean?
Unilineal evolution means the theory, now considered obsolete, that societies evolve in a single direction toward complexity, progress, and civilization.
What part of speech is unilineal evolution?
Unilineal evolution is a noun.
What is the plural of unilineal evolution?
The plural of unilineal evolution is unilineal evolutions.

Words near unilineal evolution in the dictionary

  1. unilateralness
  2. unilimbate
  3. uniline
  4. unilineage
  5. unilineal
  6. unilineal evolution
  7. unilineality
  8. unilinear
  9. unilinear evolution
  10. unilinearity
  11. unilinearly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: unilineal evolution (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.

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