eugenics

American  

[yoo-jen-iks] / yuˈdʒɛn ɪks /

noun

(used with a singular verb)

1. the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, especially by such means as discouraging reproduction by people presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits negative eugenics or encouraging reproduction by people presumed to have inheritable desirable traits positive eugenics.

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eugenics British  

/ ˈjuːdʒənɪst, juːˈdʒɛnɪks /

noun

1. (functioning as singular) the study of methods of improving the quality of the human race, esp by selective breeding

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eugenics Cultural  

1. The idea that one can improve the human race by careful selection of those who mate and produce offspring.

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Discover More

Eugenics was a popular theory in the early twentieth century but is no longer taken seriously, primarily because of the horrors of the eugenic efforts of the Nazi regime in Germany.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• eugenically
  adverb
• eugenist
  noun
• eugenicist
  noun
• eugenic
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of eugenics

First recorded in 1880–85; see origin at eugenic, -ics

Explanation

Eugenics is the idea that you can engineer a better human population by breeding for certain genes. Since such a program would entail ranking human beings and the desirability of their genes, eugenics is widely considered unethical. The term eugenics was coined in 1883 by Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, and it comes from the Greek roots eu-, "good," and genos, "birth." Galton believed that the human race could be improved by encouraging people who have "good" genes to marry early and have lots of children, and discouraging people with "bad" genes from procreating at all. Nazi Germany provided a horrifying example of such a program at work, and eugenics is now seen as abhorrent.

Example Sentences

Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2025

Eugenics was a big thing in the first three decades of the 20th century, and also in the first three decades of the 20th century, more women were going to university and becoming professional women.

From Scientific American • Sep. 21, 2023

The Eugenics Wars are a cautionary historical example of what can happen when mankind turns its back on humanistic principles.

From Salon • Jun. 23, 2023

It was suspected that they originated from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, which stood on the site from 1927 to 1945.

From Reuters • Mar. 23, 2023

The Eugenics Record Office in America had lost much of its funding in 1939 and shrank drastically after 1945.

From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee