n. Large-scale patterns or processes in the history of life, including the origins of novel organism designs, evolutionary trends, adaptive radiations and extinctions.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. evolution on a large scale extending over geologic era and resulting in the formation of new taxonomic groups
Word Usage
"One of the questions that came up was about the claim that the term macroevolution is not a legitimate scientific term."