anthropology

anthropology (ˌænθrəˈpɒlədʒɪ)

—n
	cultural anthropology ethnology physical anthropology See also social anthropology the study of humans, their origins, physical characteristics, institutions, religious beliefs, social relationships, etc

anthropological

—*adj*

anthropo'logically

—*adv*

anthro'pologist

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

anthropology

"science of the natural history of man," 1590s, coined from Gk. anthropo- + -logia "study of." In Aristotle, anthropologos is used literally, as "speaking of man." Related: Anthropological (1825); anthropologist (1798).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage

Medical Dictionary

anthropology an·thro·pol·o·gy (ān'thrə-pŏl'ə-jē)
n.
The scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans.

an'thro·pol'o·gist n.

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

anthropology

(ān'thrə-pŏl'ə-jē) Pronunciation Key
The scientific study of humans, especially of their origin, their behavior, and their physical, social, and cultural development.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

anthropology definition

The scientific study of the origin, development, and varieties of human beings and their societies, particularly so-called primitive societies.

Example sentences

The latest physical anthropology research indicates that the human evolutionary

line never went through a knuckle-walking phase.

At the present time, many technical criticisms of sociobiology have come from

within anthropology and biology.

You can reserve the brain/brawn discussion for the anthropology class.

Ties between anthropology and the military are old ones.

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structural anthropology anthrop anthropogeography anthropography blonde culturology

Matching Quote

"In view of the fact that they are ostensibly interested in many of the same problems, the extent to which sociologists and anthropologists have maintained fundamentally distinctive approaches is one of the more curious facts in the history of Western thought. The sociological attitude has tended toward the practical and present, the anthropological toward pure understanding and the past. Anthropology developed in the classes; sociology in the masses. A rich man's hobby can permit itself the luxury of aesthetic exultation in fascinatingly different and complex materials. The anthropologist has also been considered less socially dangerous by the conservative because he was "a gentleman" and preoccupied with the long ago and the far away."

-Clyde Kluckhohn