preformistn.adj.
/priːˈfɔːmɪst/, U.S. /priˈfɔrməst/ Biology and History of Science.
A. n.
= preformationist n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > theories > person holding theory > [noun] > of genetics or evolution
transmutationist1844
progressionist1845
developist1846
developmentist1847
monogenist1857
polygenist1857
Darwinian1860
Darwinite1860
developmentarian1860
permutationist1860
developmentalist1862
monogenesist1862
polygenesist1862
Darwinist1864
evolutionist1866
natural selectionist1869
homogenist1874
derivationist1875
transformista1879
hereditarian1881
hereditist1885
derivatist1887
preformationist1888
fortuitist1890
Lamarckite1890
neo-Lamarckian1890
neo-Darwinist1891
vestigian1891
neo-Darwinian1892
selectionist1892
preformist1895
recapitulationist1897
transmissionist1899
Mendelian1903
mutationist1903
Weismannian1903
adaptationist1904
Mendelist1906
Lysenkoist1949
Morganist1950
Lamarckian1953
gradualist1970
macromutationist1975
punctuationalist1978
saltationist1978
punctuationist1980
1895 Science 23 Aug. 219/1 The two camps of naturalists divided in regard to inheritance into Preformists and the advocates of Epigenesis.
2000 Slavic & East European Jrnl. 44 590 The two leading protagonists of this debate in the eighteenth century were the preformists and the epigeneticists.
B. adj.
= preformationist adj.
ΚΠ
1896 Amer. Naturalist 30 449 The case of reflex and instinctive functions as against the old preformist or Weismannist view.
1932 Amer. Jrnl. Sociol. 37 799 Whether a biologist is to be a preformist or an epigenist is a matter biologically foreordained by the character and condition of his glands.
1998 B. L. Silver Ascent of Sci. xxi. 260 Leeuwenhoek and his compatriot Jan Swammerdam (1637–1680) were largely responsible for the now defunct preformist theory.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.1895