hopeful monster
noun Biology.
a hypothetical individual organism that, by means of a fortuitous macromutation permitting an adaptive shift to a new mode of life, becomes the founder of a new type of organism and a vehicle of macroevolution.
Origin of hopeful monster
First recorded in 1933; phrase introduced by German geneticist Richard B. Goldschmidt (1879–1958)
Words nearby hopeful monster
hope chest,
hope diamond,
hope springs eternal,
hope, bob,
hopeful,
hopeful monster,
hopefully,
hopeh,
hopeless,
hopewell,
hophead