Malthusian

//mælˈθjuːzɪən// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A supporter of the ideas of Thomas Malthus.

    "As Tess grew older, and began to see how matters stood, she felt quite a Malthusian towards her mother for thoughtlessly giving her so many little sisters and brothers, when it was such a trouble to nurse and provide for them."

  2. 2
    a believer in Malthusian theory wordnet
Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, or relating to Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) or his views on human population and world resources.

    "For first, this college life, opening to scholarships, and ending, perchance, as you political economists would desire, in Malthusian fellowships,—premiums for celibacy,— consider what manner of thing it is!"

Adjective
  1. 1
    of or relating to Thomas Malthus or to Malthusianism wordnet

Example

More examples

"Among the reactionary theories of a fascist character, placed at the service of imperialism, the notorious Malthusian theory of the overpopulation of the globe occupies a prominent place."

Etymology

From Malthus + -ian.

Related phrases

Malthusian catastropheMalthusian checkMalthusian crisisMalthusian crunchMalthusian spectreMalthusian trapneo-Malthusian

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