behavioral
Americanadjective
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relating to a person’s manner of behaving or acting.
The program provides academic and behavioral supports for students of concern.
Most of our biggest health risks are largely preventable with behavioral change.
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Psychology, Animal Behavior. relating to or studying observable activity in a human or animal, often thought of as the aggregate of responses to external and internal stimuli.
This psychiatry textbook offers a thorough discussion of both the behavioral sciences and clinical psychiatry.
Harassment of wild marine mammals has disrupted their behavioral patterns, including migration, breeding, and feeding.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of behavioral
First recorded in 1925–30; behavior ( def. ) + -al 1 ( def. )
Vocabulary lists containing behavioral
Evolutionary Biology - Natural Selection - Middle School
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Evolutionary Biology - Adaptation
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Evolutionary Biology - Natural Selection - High School
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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.
This year, they wrote, “we still have no evidence of a broad behavioral shift.”
From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026
Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can stunt the brain development and lead to behavioral issues in young children that inhale or ingest it.
From Los Angeles Times • May 21, 2026
“Most of longevity is behavioral change,” says Johnson.
From Barron's • May 21, 2026
The researchers concluded that these findings point to disruptions in frontal-subcortical circuits involved in behavioral control.
From Science Daily • May 10, 2026
Many of the residents, including Luke, attended Park- hill School on campus, which was designed for children with behavioral or emotional problems.
From "Three Little Words: A Memoir" by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
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.
