eugenicsn.
/juːˈdʒɛnɪks/, U.S. /juˈdʒɛnɪks/ With singular agreement. (The study of) the arrangement of human reproduction in order to increase the proportion of characteristics regarded as desirable (or to reduce the proportion regarded as undesirable) within a population or the species as a whole. Also: the advocacy for or implementation of policies and practices intended to influence human reproduction in this way.Developed largely by Sir Francis Galton (1822–1911) as a method of (supposedly) ‘improving’ the human race (see quot. 1883), eugenics was increasingly discredited as unscientific and racially biased during the 20th cent., especially after its doctrines were adopted by the Nazis in order to justify their treatment of Jews, disabled people, and other minority groups.
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the world > life > biology > study > [noun] > genetics > branches of
eugenics1883
thremmatology1888
negative eugenics1908
phenogenetics1928
cytogenetics1930
genetic engineering1934
radiogenetics1934
population biology1935
population genetics1938
immunogenetics1947
gengineering1985
archaeogenetics1999
1883 F. Galton Inq. Human Faculty 44 The investigation of human eugenics—that is, of the conditions under which men of a high type are produced.
1942 Dunkirk (N.Y.) Evening Observer 6 Mar. 5/2 He was also an expert on eugenics and wrote books on evolution, modern surgery and race culture.
1993 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 30 Dec. a10/1 China said..its proposed eugenics law ‘is totally different from the racist “eugenics” policy pursued by Adolf Hitler during the Third Reich.’
2018 R. Eddo-Lodge Why I'm no longer talking to White People about Race (rev. ed.) i. 21 The British eugenics movement believed that social class was determined by biological factors such as intelligence.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1883