Word.ws English Dictionary

Malthusian

/mælˈθjuːzɪən/

Malthusian adjective: of, or relating to Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) or his views on human population and world resources.

Adjective

Malthusian (comparative more Malthusian, superlative most Malthusian)

  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!1849, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The Caxtons
    • Even under the best of circumstances, however, no one would depend on this Malthusian adjustment process to account for the ability of modern economies to maintain a constant saving rate and steady growth for 20 years at a time without catastrophe.1970, Robert M. Solow, Growth Theory: An Exposition, Oxford University Press, page 13

Noun

Malthusian (plural Malthusians)

  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.1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter V, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […]...

Forms of Malthusian

Adjective
comparativemore Malthusian
superlativemost Malthusian
Noun
pluralMalthusians

Origin of Malthusian

From Malthus + -ian.

Words formed from Malthusian

  • Malthusian catastrophe
  • Malthusian check
  • Malthusian crisis
  • Malthusian crunch
  • Malthusianism
  • Malthusian spectre
  • Malthusian trap
  • neo-Malthusian

Questions about Malthusian

What does Malthusian mean?
Malthusian means of, or relating to Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) or his views on human population and world resources.
What part of speech is Malthusian?
Malthusian can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce Malthusian?
Malthusian is pronounced /mælˈθjuːzɪən/ (UK).

Words near Malthusian in the dictionary

  1. maltheist
  2. maltheists
  3. malthouse
  4. malthouses
  5. Malthus
  6. Malthusian
  7. Malthusianism
  8. Malthusianisms
  9. Malthusians
  10. Malthusiast
  11. Malthusiasts

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Malthusian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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