gradualism: Meaning and Definition of

grad•u•al•ism

1. the principle or policy of achieving some goal by gradual steps rather than by drastic change.
2. a theory maintaining that two seemingly conflicting notions are not radically opposed, but are related by others partaking in varying degrees of the character of both.
3. a tenet in evolutionary theory maintaining that species evolve slowly and continuously over long periods of geological time. Cf. punctuated equilibrium.