ethnographic

American  

[eth-nuh-graf-ik] / ˌɛθ nəˈgræf ɪk /

Rarely ethnographical

adjective

1. of or relating to ethnography, the branch of anthropology dealing with the scientific description of individual cultures.

   Ethnographic information indicates that trips to harvest wild hot peppers were important social and economic ventures among Apache peoples in the region.

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Other Word Forms

• ethnographically adverb

Etymology

Origin of ethnographic

ethno- ( def. ) + -graphic ( def. )

Example Sentences

It is the summation of the ethnographic fieldwork, bold hypotheses and sweeping synthesis unique to this scholar of rural resistance.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 12, 2025

Anthropologist Emma Tarlo, author of a richly detailed ethnographic work of the period, wrote that during the Emergency, the poor were subjected to "forced choices".

From BBC • Jun. 24, 2025

For the study, Hewlett and colleagues use observational and ethnographic data to examine nine different modes of cultural transmission, meaning from whom and how children learn, in hunter-gatherer societies.

From Science Daily • Nov. 19, 2024

Matrilineal avuncularity is known from a few ethnographic and historical examples, he notes, such as the Iroquois of North America, and is often unrelated to concerns about female fidelity.

From Science Magazine • Jun. 3, 2024

David Braman’s ethnographic research shows that mass incarceration, far from reducing the stigma associated with criminality, actually creates a deep silence in communities of color, one rooted in shame.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander