The Collaborative International Dictionary
Neo-Lamarckism \Ne`o-La*marck"ism\, n. (Biol.) Lamarckism as revived, modified, and expounded by recent biologists, esp. as maintaining that the offspring inherits characters acquired by the parent from change of environment, use or disuse of parts, etc.; -- opposed of Neo-Darwinism (which see, above).
Note: This theory has been thoroughly discredited, though it had some support for a time in the Soviet Union due to the influence of the biologist Lysenko.-- Ne`o-La*marck"i*an, a. & n.
WordNet
adj. of or relating to a modern version of Lamarckism; "Neo-Lamarckian theories"
Usage examples of "neo-lamarckian".
The various theories of organic evolution, whether Lamarckian, neo-Lamarckian, or Darwinian, are based upon the assumption that animals and plants have a tendency to perpetuate by transmission to offspring a variation which has proven useful as an aid to the particular species in its struggle for existence.