Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The scientific study of the origin, the behavior, and the physical, social, and cultural development of humans.
  • noun That part of Christian theology concerning the genesis, nature, and future of humans, especially as contrasted with the nature of God.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The science of man or of mankind.
  • noun A treatise on the science of man. Anthropomorphism (which see).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The science of the structure and functions of the human body.
  • noun The science of man, including the study of the ditribution of physical and cultural attributes in relation to man's origin, location, history, and environment; -- sometimes used in a limited sense to mean the study of man as an object of natural history, or as an animal.
  • noun That manner of expression by which the inspired writers attribute human parts and passions to God. See also anthropopathite, anthropopathism, anthropomorphist.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The holistic scientific and social study of humanity, mainly using ethnography as its method.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From anthropo-, from Ancient Greek ἄνθρωπος (anthropos, "man, mankind, human, humanity") + -logy.

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Examples

  • She was a distinguished scientist who held three degrees in anthropology from the University of Chicago, but she was also, according to those who knew her, a courageous and groundbreaking example to other women.

    Archive 2007-08-01 Peggy 2007

  • After dissecting yet another male-centered anthropological study, she states The great reassessment happening in anthropology is the realization that the complex of behaviors that seem to mark the emergence of highly intelligent Homo are those activities that have always been associated with women: plant gathering and processing, communal resource acquisition and provisioning — including shellfishing.

    BROAD CAST AND UPDATES, 29 OCTOBER 2007 Maggie Jochild 2007

  • She was a distinguished scientist who held three degrees in anthropology from the University of Chicago, but she was also, according to those who knew her, a courageous and groundbreaking example to other women.

    Priscilla Reining, ~1923-2007 Peggy 2007

  • While in the United States the term anthropology is used to name the whole subject, in Europe the name ethnology is applied.

    thinking with my fingers Torill 2002

  • While earning her degree in anthropology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her accreditation in photography, she continued to visit Mexico, falling in love with its dense rainforests, crystal-blue waters, never-ending deserts, and the people that inhabit them - and the food they eat.

    Yuri Awanohara 1996

  • In these critical passages, it is not clear why he didn't respect what he called anthropology more highly as an empirical study of the mind, given that he himself did it.

    Kant's View of the Mind and Consciousness of Self Brook, Andrew 2008

  • As a doctoral student in anthropology (the best major btw), how has your academic life influenced your work?

    Interview with Meredith Duran | Edwardian Promenade 2009

  • Now a doctoral student in anthropology, she is happy to report that all three goals have become her favorite things to do.

    Interview with Meredith Duran | Edwardian Promenade 2009

  • This gem should easily entice any reader with an interest or background in anthropology, history or geography.

    Mexican Folk Art from Oaxacan Artist Families by Arden Aibel and Anya Leah Rothstein 2009

  • In terms of its written form, anthropology is also very sympathetic to fiction.

    Interview with Meredith Duran | Edwardian Promenade 2009

Comments

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  • Humans seek to anthropomorphise the actions of animals, which is fundamentally flawed.

    December 26, 2006