Malthus
Americannoun
noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Malthus published several revisions of his original essay, responding to new observations as well as criticism from contemporary economic giants like David Ricardo.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
Ehrlich was often labeled a neo-Malthusian, a reference to the 18th-century British political economist Thomas Malthus, best known for “An Essay on the Principle of Population.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 17, 2026
Neo-Malthusian refers to the concepts of economist Thomas Malthus, who argued against human overpopulation in the 18th century; social Darwinism is a misapplication of biologist Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory to validate conservative social hierarchies.
From Salon • Dec. 2, 2024
Pessimists such as Malthus failed to comprehend this process, which has come to be known as the “demographic transition.”
From Washington Post • Nov. 19, 2022
Thomas Malthus had been a curate at the Okewood Chapel in Surrey by daytime, but he was a closet economist by night.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
