Malthus
Americannoun
noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Still, comparing Ehrlich to Malthus is something of an insult to the latter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
Ehrlich was often labeled a neo-Malthusian, a reference to the 18th-century British political economist Thomas Malthus, best known for “An Essay on the Principle of Population.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 17, 2026
Pessimists such as Malthus failed to comprehend this process, which has come to be known as the “demographic transition.”
From Washington Post ● Nov. 19, 2022
In plain English, Malthus believed exponential population growth would inevitably outpace food production, increasing poverty and famine, what's known as a "Malthusian catastrophe."
From Salon ● Nov. 15, 2022
As the population expanded, Malthus reasoned, its resource pool would be depleted, and competition between individuals would grow severe.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
