inbreeding

American  

[in-bree-ding] / ˈɪnˌbri dɪŋ /

noun

Biology.

1. the mating of closely related individuals, as cousins, sire-daughter, brother-sister, or self-fertilized plants, which tends to increase the number of individuals that are homozygous for a trait and therefore increases the appearance of recessive traits.

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inbreeding Scientific  

/ ĭn′brē′dĭng /

1. The breeding or mating of related individuals within an isolated or closed group of organisms or people. Inbreeding can result in inbreeding depression. However, in agriculture and animal husbandry, the continued breeding of closely related individuals can help to preserve desirable traits in a stock.

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Etymology

Origin of inbreeding

First recorded in 1835–45; inbreed + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

Even when recovery begins with a small group of surviving individuals, continued population growth can help offset the harmful effects of inbreeding and partially restore lost variation.

From Science Daily • Mar. 6, 2026

In the meantime, populations are at risk of being wiped out by inbreeding, fierce wildfires or a number of other factors.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 12, 2026

Mubeen explains inbreeding has become a common practice in Pakistan, and some big cats may have to be euthanised.

From BBC • Jul. 22, 2025

In isolated populations like Sardinia’s, where inbreeding was common, such rare variants can become more frequent, a phenomenon called the founder effect.

From Science Magazine • Nov. 20, 2024

In 2005, members of the Native American Havasupai Tribe sued Arizona State University after scientists took tissue samples the tribe donated for diabetes research and used them without consent to study schizophrenia and inbreeding.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot