Malthus

American  

[mal-thuhs] / ˈmæl θəs /

noun

1. Thomas Robert, 1766–1834, English economist and clergyman.

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Malthus British  

/ ˈmælθəs /

noun

1. Thomas Robert. 1766–1834, English economist. He propounded his population theory in An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)

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Example Sentences

Neo-Malthusian refers to the concepts of economist Thomas Malthus, who argued against human overpopulation in the 18th century; social Darwinism is a misapplication of biologist Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory to validate conservative social hierarchies.

From Salon

When Tanton blended ecology with eugenics and immigration, he was digging up the two-century-old principles of Thomas Malthus, who first theorized that human population growth would lead to poverty and suffering.

From Salon

In 1798, British economist Thomas Malthus forecast that an increasing population would soon outstrip, disastrously, nature’s capacity to feed so many people; in 1968, the title of an influential tract spoke of a “population bomb.”

From Washington Post

In 1798, English economist Thomas Robert Malthus anonymously published his infamous treatise "An Essay on the Principle of Population," arguing "Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio, Subsistence, increases only in an arithmetical ratio."

From Salon

Like Malthus, Mr. Ehrlich and others have been tripped up by human ingenuity, which has made agriculture more bountiful than they could envision.

From Washington Times