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Cambrian explosion

name
/ˈkam.bɹɪ.ən ɪkˈspləʊ.ʒən/UK/ˈkæm.bɹi.ən ɛkˈsploʊ.ʒən/US

Etymology

Of unclear origin, inspired by George Gaylord Simpson's description of "explosive" evolution. The earliest known use is in a BSCS high school biology textbook written in 1961 under the direction of paleobotanist Wilson Steward.

Definitions

  1. The relatively rapid appearance, during the Cambrian Period around 541 million years ago,…

    The relatively rapid appearance, during the Cambrian Period around 541 million years ago, of most major animal phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record.

  2. The rapid appearance of anything.

    • There has been a Cambrian explosion of cryptocurrencies.
    • Before the Web, it was hard to imagine alternatives to management orthodoxy. But the Internet has spawned a Cambrian explosion of new organizational life forms—where coordination occurs without centralization, […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for Cambrian explosion. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA