eugenic

Also eu·gen·i·cal

[yoo-jen-ik]

adjective

1. of or relating to measures intended to produce a perceived improvement in the characteristics of the human species or a human population, especially through reproductive policy.

2. having inherited characteristics that are seen as favorable for the purpose of producing or reproducing perceived improvements in the human species or a human population.

Other Word Forms

• eugenically adverb
• noneugenic adjective
• noneugenical adjective
• noneugenically adverb
• uneugenic adjective
• uneugenical adjective
• uneugenically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of eugenic¹

First recorded in 1880–85; from Greek eugen(ḗs) “wellborn” ( eu-, -gen ) + -ic

Example Sentences

Schottenstein, an Orthodox Jew, was perplexed at the criticism that the campaign smacked of eugenics, the Nazi-embraced theory that selective reproduction can advance the human race.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Current eugenics rhetoric is, like its forebear, fundamentally incoherent.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Some critics interpreted the ads as a play on eugenics, the discredited belief that humanity could be improved through selective breeding.

Read more on BBC

Kennedy has signaled his own fidelity to eugenics by suggesting recently that people with autism are nonfunctional members of society…

Read more on Salon

Those ads, which centered around a pun on the phrase “good genes,” were accused of promoting eugenics.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• ancestral 
• hereditary 
• historical