Malthusian

[ mal-thoo-zhuhn, -zee-uhn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

of or relating to the theories of T. R. Malthus, which state that population tends to increase faster, at a geometrical ratio, than the means of subsistence, which increases at an arithmetical ratio, and that this will result in an inadequate supply of the goods supporting life unless war, famine, or disease reduces the population or the increase of population is checked.

Malthusian

/ mælˈθjuːzɪən /

of or relating to the theory of Malthus stating that increases in population tend to exceed increases in the means of subsistence and that therefore sexual restraint should be exercised

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First recorded in 1805–15; Malthus + -ian

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Orwellian, Malthusian, barbarous, depraved…I think you get me.

And despite all the Malthusian nonsense, we've still got plenty of oil and natural gas, reports the National Journal's Amy Harder.

In the thousands of years before the Industrial Revolution, civilization was stuck in the Malthusian Trap.

Workers responded by laboring harder and longer and bearing more children in a desperate attempt to outrun their Malthusian trap.

In my fantasy I am not simply wasting my final nights with fruitless, Malthusian ramblings.

It is difficult to over-estimate the harm that has been done to public policy by this same Malthusian theory.

It was this experience which gave shape to his Malthusian theories.

One of the professor's formulas is the so-called "Malthusian law," that population presses always upon the limits of subsistence.

The Malthusian chorus of political economists suggests the notion that a nation may be over-physical.

Precisely this seemed to be the case with the Malthusian theory.

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