survival of the fittest: Meaning and Definition of

surviv'al of the fit'test

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. (not in technical use) natural selection.
  2. a 19th-century concept of human society, inspired by the principle of natural selection, postulating that those who are eliminated in the struggle for existence are the unfit.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.