phrenology
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of phrenology
Explanation
If you think that the shape of a person's head can tell you everything you need to know about him, you believe in phrenology, or the study of skulls. Phrenology is outdated today, but it was a popular area of study in the nineteenth century. It was considered a "pseudoscience," or false science, even at the time, yet phrenology was taken seriously by some psychiatrists and neurologists, who would feel a patient's head for bumps they believed revealed aspects of personality, character, and health. The literal Greek meaning of phrenology is "mental science," from the root word phrenos, or "mind."
Vocabulary lists containing phrenology
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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Society and Solitude
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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.
Both Orson and Lorenzo were headed for careers in the ministry, but Orson became captivated by phrenology while a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 29, 2026
The terms “highbrow” and “lowbrow” derived from the 19th-century pseudoscience of phrenology, and the former was first popularized by a New York Sun reporter around 1902, to be quickly followed by the latter.
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 2026
“He had to look beautiful, like a phrenology head or an anatomical manual,” Del Toro adds.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2025
In the 19th Century, phrenology, which investigated the idea that human characteristics could be determined by the shape of the skull, was very popular in the UK and other parts of Europe.
From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2022
Among Boston doctors, phrenology is considered serious stuff when Phineas walks into the middle of the debate of the Whole Brainers versus the Localizers.
From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman
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.
