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.
According to the Navy, aboard the Lincoln were one clinical psychologist, one clinical social worker and three behavioral health technicians as well as a counselor and five Navy chaplains.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Its findings could be useful in psychology, behavioral research, and the design of environments in which people regularly make choices.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Pryor points to behavioral traits including coachability, curiosity, reliability, comfort asking for clarification and the ability to repair a misstep.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Compared with chemical dependencies, which have been well understood since before the first DSM was compiled in 1952, the framework for describing so-called behavioral addictions is extremely new, he and others said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2026
“The panda reintroduction program began in 2003 with a team made up of researchers from many fields, including ecology, behavioral science,veterinary, and feeding management,” explains Suzanne Braden of Pandas International.
From "Camp Panda" by Catherine Thimmesh
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.
