Meaning & use
anthropologist
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A scholar who studies human beings, including their customs, beliefs, languages and how they have developed.
Grammar: Often with a field word before it: a cultural anthropologist.
Patterns
- a cultural anthropologist
- an anthropologist who studies something
The anthropologist lived with the village for two years to study its traditions.
A forensic anthropologist helped identify the bones.
Anthropologists compare how different societies raise children.
Word forms
| plural | anthropologists |
|---|
Common combinations
- cultural anthropologist
- The cultural anthropologist studied wedding customs.
- social anthropologist
- A social anthropologist observed how the market worked.
- forensic anthropologist
- The forensic anthropologist examined the skeleton.
- leading anthropologist
- A leading anthropologist gave the opening lecture.
- anthropologist's fieldwork
- The anthropologist's fieldwork lasted three years.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ethnologist
- Ethnologist is an older term for someone comparing cultures and is used less often now.
- sociologist
- A sociologist studies modern societies and groups, often by surveys, while an anthropologist often lives within a community.
Word family
- anthropology noun
- the study of human societies and development
- anthropological adjective
- relating to anthropology
- anthropologically adverb
- from the viewpoint of anthropology
- anthropoid adjective
- resembling a human
Commonly confused: anthropologist or archaeologist?
anthropologist vs archaeologist
An archaeologist digs up and studies old objects, while an anthropologist studies people and their cultures, living or past.
Practice
A scientist who spends a year living in a remote village to learn about its customs is most likely a(n) ___.
Choose one answer.
Anthropologists study the customs and ways of life of human communities. A geologist studies rocks, an astronomer stars, and a botanist plants.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “anthropologist”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.