Word.ws English Dictionary

Tarzanist

Tarzanist adjective: in the style of, or exhibiting, Tarzanism.

Adjective

Tarzanist (comparative more Tarzanist, superlative most Tarzanist)

  1. In the style of, or exhibiting, Tarzanism.
    • But if he finds a niche in the Hardy theory, he surely throws a pretty hefty wrench into the Tarzanist works. If the hominid became bipedal in order to run after his prey, where did this bipedal plant-eater come from?1972, Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Woman, New York: Stein and Day, page 156
    • The Nigerian writes in English, although he has urged the adoption of Kiswahili as a single language for Africa. "I find no contradiction, no sense of guilt, in the fact that I write and communicate in English," he said several years ago, dismissing as "neo-Tarzanist" the criticism that he was too...1986 October 17, The New York Times, Late Edition, page 1

Noun

Tarzanist (plural Tarzanists)

  1. An anthropologist who depicts early human evolution in terms of aggressive male hunters and passive baby-carrying women.
    • The Tarzanists suggest that bipedalism enabled this ape to race after game while carrying weapons — in the first instance, presumably pebbles.1972, Elaine Morgan, The Descent of Woman, New York: Stein and Day, page 156
    • As for social structure, Morgan argues, the “Tarzanists,” as she calls them, conveniently overlook studies of primates that do not fit their model.1974, Clarice Stasz Stoll, Female and Male, Dubuque, Iowa: Wm C. Brown Co., page 28

Examples of Tarzanist in a sentence

  • How useful her words "tarzanist" and "tarzanism" and the concepts they embrace, for those of us who have to describe contemporary Australian political life.2021 June 15, The Canberra Times, page 37:
  • Pouring gentle, good-humoured scorn on what she calls the ‘Tarzanist-type’ theories of ‘Man the Hunter’, she nonetheless makes some firm points about the origin and development of the human family.1988, Ronald Fletcher, The Abolitionists: The Family and Marriage under Attack, London: Routledge, page 191:
  • [T]his is still the case for extant gatherer—hunter groups, the Tarzanist fantasies of certain pop anthropologists notwithstanding..1990, David Kritchevsky and Charles Bonfield, editors, Dietary Fiber: Chemistry, Physiology, and Health Effects, New York: Plenum Press...

Forms of Tarzanist

Adjective
comparativemore Tarzanist
superlativemost Tarzanist
Noun
pluralTarzanists

Origin of Tarzanist

From Tarzan + -ist.

Questions about Tarzanist

What does Tarzanist mean?
Tarzanist means in the style of, or exhibiting, Tarzanism.
How do you use Tarzanist in a sentence?
How useful her words "tarzanist" and "tarzanism" and the concepts they embrace, for those of us who have to describe contemporary Australian political life.
What part of speech is Tarzanist?
Tarzanist can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near Tarzanist in the dictionary

  1. Tarzanians
  2. Tarzanic
  3. Tarzaning
  4. Tarzanish
  5. Tarzanism
  6. Tarzanist
  7. Tarzanists
  8. Tarzans
  9. Tarzany
  10. Tarzhay
  11. tarzie

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Tarzanist (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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Cite this entry: “Tarzanist.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tarzanist. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.