ethology

[ ee-thol-uh-jee, ih-thol- ]

See synonyms for: ethological on Thesaurus.com

noun

the study of animal behavior with emphasis on the behavioral patterns that occur in natural environments.

Origin of ethology

1895–1900; earlier, as the study of relations between an organism and its environment <French éthologie, coined by French zoologist I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1805–61); see ethos, -logy

Other words from ethology

e·tho·log·i·cal [ee-thuh-loj-i-kuhl, eth-uh-], /ˌi θəˈlɒdʒ ɪ kəl, ˌɛθ ə-/, adjective
e·tho·log·i·cal·ly, adverb
e·thol·o·gist, noun

Words Nearby ethology

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use ethology in a sentence

Several reviewers missed that Morgan didn’t have any anthropological training, describing her as “a female anthropologist,” and “a scholarly woman, educated at Oxford in the fields of paleontology, ethology, and anthropology.”
Tarzan Wasn’t for Her - Issue 100: Outsiders | Erika Lorraine Milam | June 2, 2021 | Nautilus
I remark by anticipation that this expression implies a reference to Mill's ethology, of which I shall have to speak.
The English Utilitarians, Volume I. | Leslie Stephen
As in ethology and other deductive sciences, so in Statistics and History there are empirical laws.
Analysis of Mr. Mill's System of Logic | William Stebbing
It must itself depend on laws of mind and character (psychology and ethology).
The Idea of Progress | J. B. Bury
Etholog′ic, -al, relating to ethology: treating of morality.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) | Various

British Dictionary definitions for ethology

ethology

/ (ɪˈθɒlədʒɪ) /

noun

the study of the behaviour of animals in their normal environment

Origin of ethology

C17 (in the obsolete sense: mimicry): via Latin from Greek ēthologia, from ēthos character; current sense, C19

Derived forms of ethology

ethological (ˌɛθəˈlɒdʒɪkəl), adjective
ethologically, adverb
ethologist, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for ethology

ethology

[ ĭ-thŏl′ə-jē, ē-thŏl′- ]

The scientific study of animal behavior, especially as it occurs in a natural environment.

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