anthropologist

American  

[an-thruh-pol-uh-jist] / ˌæn θrəˈpɒl ə dʒɪst /

noun

• anthropologists
  plural

1. a person who specializes in anthropology.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• anthropologists
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of anthropologist

First recorded in 1790–1800; anthropolog(y) + -ist

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Explanation

If you like to go people watching and enjoy studying the ways that humans behave, then you might be a future anthropologist. Anthropologists are people that practice anthropology, which is the study of humanity. Basically they want to figure out what makes humans human. An anthropologist might be interested in everything from the traditions of a tribe on a remote island to the culture of an urban community and everything in between. Biological anthropologists spend their time with fossils and artifacts trying to figure out how early humans might have behaved and what makes us different from other primates.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anthropologist anthropologists

Earlier population estimates often relied heavily on calculations made during the 1930s by anthropologist Alfred Radcliffe-Brown.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

Except this is no pop singer or movie star, but a 54-year old anthropologist.

From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026

In my decades as a cultural anthropologist studying authoritarianism in Russia and the United States, I’ve learned that one of power’s most useful tricks is making responsibility vanish.

From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026

I started my T journey innocently enough, analyzing the #testosterone posts like a slightly judgmental anthropologist doing field research.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 12, 2026

But according to Meltzer, the Southern Methodist University anthropologist, the great man’s motives were less charitable.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann

Men, gay and straight, have engaged in what anthropologists call “jocular abuse” since ancient times, when Spartan warriors were schooled in using wit to cut their peers to the quick.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

In recent decades, many biologists and anthropologists have come to view Homo sapiens as what’s called a “cooperative breeder.”

From Slate ● May 10, 2026

FY: I think that architects and designers have to be anthropologists.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 13, 2026

Daniel Aliyu Kwali, president of the FCT Stakeholders' Assembly, noted that some anthropologists and historians say that communities have lived there for over 6,000 years.

From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2026

Anthropologists formerly idealized band and tribal societies as gentle and nonviolent, because visiting anthropologists observed no murder in a band of 25 people in the course of a three-year study.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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