uniformitarian


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u·ni·for·mi·tar·i·an·ism

 (yo͞o′nə-fôr′mĭ-târ′ē-ə-nĭz′əm)
n.
The theory that all geologic phenomena may be explained as the result of existing forces having operated uniformly from the origin of the earth to the present time.
u′ni·for′mi·tar′i·an adj. & n.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

uniformitarian

(ˌjuːnɪˌfɔːmɪˈtɛərɪən)
adj
1. (Geological Science) of or relating to uniformitarianism
2. of, characterized by, or conforming to uniformity
n
(Geological Science) a supporter of a theory of uniformity or of uniformitarianism
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

u•ni•form•i•tar•i•an

(ˌyu nəˌfɔr mɪˈtɛər i ən)

adj.
1. of, pertaining to, or designating the theory that geologic processes operative in the remote past were no different from processes operative now.
n.
2. a supporter of the uniformitarian theory.
[1830–40]
u`ni•form`i•tar′i•an•ism, n.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Darwin's debt to Lyell while a young scientist has been noted by many historians, but the intellectual link has often been developed merely to underscore Darwin's developing uniformitarian approach to natural history.
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If Maud enacted Lyellian uniformitarianism socially, ontologically, and literarily, Geric further argued, Tennyson also represented the nightmarish qualities of a uniformitarian, nonteleological universe in which there is no ultimate fixed, certain meaning and transformation is ever ongoing.
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It provides us with some good sources of data, maybe; but the uniformitarian hypothesis remains valid: technology has changed, but the nature of human languages has not; nor have the mechanisms of linguistic change.
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So it is also worth noting that there is no compelling reason to think that evolution can be accounted for in terms of eternal, universal, and immutable 'laws of nature.' Deloria in fact suggests that the idea of evolution would be better referred to as 'cosmogenesis,' which is preferable to 'evolution' just because it does not presume that an adequate story about this evolutionary world can be grounded in a 'uniformitarian' interpretation of emergence.
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Particulars of such respect are the subject of Chapter Five, which describes Charles Kingsley's unique articulation of evolution as a paradigm for Christian "recapitulation." In place of "a catastrophist, saltationist model" of damnation or salvation, Kingsley offers "a uniformitarian, steadily evolving one" that allows for degenerative and ameliorative changes (125).
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Other geologists, without going to see for themselves and driven by uniformitarian dogma, absolutely refused to accept a catastrophic explanation.
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The correlation of gender and linguistic features is reached irrespective of whether they belong to a stereotypical dichotomous pattern or not, but very relatedly here in connection with Labov's (1972) Uniformitarian Principle for the behaviour of men and women in the course of its historical development along past and present societies, (8) and in this case here with its historical reconstruction in its socio-cultural context.
Propiedades de una dama y sumision sociolinguistica en la sociedad del ingles medieval tardio: uso de la negacion condicionado por genero en John Paston I y Margaret Paston

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