Table of Contents
Definition of Anthropology
(noun) The holistic study of humanity, past & present, typically divided into four sub-fields: archaeology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, and physical anthropology.
Anthropology Pronunciation
Syllabification: an·thro·pol·o·gy
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /an-thruh-pAHl-uh-jee/
- British English – /an-thruh-pOl-uh-jee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˌænθrəˈpɑlədʒi/
- British English – /ˌanθrəˈpɒlədʒi/
Usage Notes
- Plural: anthropologies
- According to the American Anthropological Association, the definition of anthropology is “the study of humans past and present.”
- A type of social science.
- An (noun) anthropologist (adverb) anthropologically studies culture to create (adjective) anthropologic or (adjective) anthropological works.
Related Quotation
- “Anthropology seeks to understand human existence over geographic space and evolutionary time, whereas sociology seeks to understand contemporary social organization, relations, and change” (Kendall 2006:7).
Additional Information
- Word origin of “anthropology” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- MIT OpenCourseWare – Free Online Course Materials – Anthropology: ocw.mit.edu
Related Terms
Reference
Kendall, Diana. 2006. Sociology in Our Times: The Essentials. 5th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Works Consulted
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. 5th ed. 2011. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Encyclopædia Britannica. (N.d.) Britannica Digital Learning. (https://britannicalearn.com/).
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Cite the Definition of Anthropology
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “anthropology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved January 16, 2025 (https://sociologydictionary.org/anthropology/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
anthropology. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/anthropology/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “anthropology.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed January 16, 2025. https://sociologydictionary.org/anthropology/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“anthropology.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2025. <https://sociologydictionary.org/anthropology/>.