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Eugenics - 7 dictionary results

eu⋅gen⋅ics

  [yoo-jen-iks]
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–noun (used with a singular verb)
the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, esp. by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics).
Origin:
1880–85; see eugenic, -ics
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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eu·gen·ics   (yōō-jěn'ĭks)   
n.   (used with a sing. verb)
The study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Eugenics

Eu*gen"ics\, n. The science of improving stock, whether human or animal. --F. Galton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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eugenics [(yooh-jen-iks)]

The idea that one can improve the human race by careful selection of those who mate and produce offspring.

Note: Eugenics was a popular theory in the early twentieth century but is no longer taken seriously, primarily because of the horrors of the eugenic efforts of the Nazi regime in Germany.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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eugenics 
1883, coined by Eng. scientist Francis Galton (1822-1911) on analogy of ethics, physics, etc. from Gk. eugenes "well-born, of good stock," from eu- "good" + genos "birth" (see genus).
"The investigation of human eugenics, that is, of the conditions under which men of a high type are produced." [Galton, "Human Faculty," 1883]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: eu·gen·ics
Pronunciation: yu-'jen-iks
Function: noun plural but singular in construction
: a science that deals with theimprovement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary qualities of a race or breed
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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eugenics eu·gen·ics (y&oomacr;-jěn'ĭks)
n.
The study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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