Gradatory definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Wherefore so long as gradatory, orderly, and adapted forms in Nature argue design, and at least while the physical cause of variation is utterly unknown and mysterious, we should advise Mr. Darwin to assume in the philosophy of his hypothesis that variation has been led along certain beneficial lines.

—Darwiniana; Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism

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Definitions (6)

American Heritage Dictionary

Century Dictionary (3)

Proceeding step by step; gradual. [Rare.] Could this gradatory apostacy [of Macbeth] have been shown us, could the noble and useful moral which results have been thus forcibly impressed upon our minds, without a violation of those senseless unities? Seward, Letters, iii.
Suitable or adapted for progression or forward motion: an epithet formerly applied to the extremities of a quadruped which arc equal or nearly so, and adapted for ordinary progression on dry land.
In eccles. arch., a series of steps from the cloisters into the church.

GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

WordNet (1)

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Examples (1)

Wherefore so long as gradatory, orderly, and adapted forms in Nature argue design, and at least while the physical cause of variation is utterly unknown and mysterious, we should advise Mr. Darwin to assume in the philosophy of his hypothesis that variation has been led along certain beneficial lines. — Darwiniana; Essays and Reviews Pertaining to Darwinism