Biopower

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The sum of the various techniques used by modern nation-states to control not individual subjects but their entire populations, as contrasted with traditional modes of power based on the threat of death from a sovereign. uncountable

    "The third type of power, biopower, emerges from the eighteenth century onward, and is directed toward populations rather than individual bodies."

  2. 2
    Bioenergy. uncountable

Example

More examples

"The third type of power, biopower, emerges from the eighteenth century onward, and is directed toward populations rather than individual bodies."

Etymology

From bio- + power, calque of French biopouvoir, coined by Michel Foucault.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.