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cannibalism

can·ni·bal·ism [ ˈka-nə-bə-ˌli-zəm]

cannibalism

noun

[ˈka-nə-bə-ˌli-zəm]

Definition of cannibalism

1 : the usually ritualistic eating of human flesh by a human being

2 : the eating of the flesh of an animal by another animal of the same kind

3 : an act of cannibalizing something

Other Words from cannibalism

cannibalistic \ ˌka-nə-bə-ˈli-stik \ adjective

Recent Examples on the Web

//In the mid-’90s, writer Jim Woodwring and penciler Art Wetherell delivered a truly globulous short series of Jabba the Hutt comics, four acid tales of space noir full of blown heads and traitorous cannibalism.
— Darren Franich, EW.com, "Return of the Jedi," 6 Nov. 2019
//Converted by German missionaries in the 1800s (sometimes at great peril because of instances of ritual cannibalism), the Batak have farmed pigs for generations.
— Los Angeles Times, "A Christian community proud of its pork resists change to attract Muslim tourists," 9 Oct. 2019
//Tissier had solved the mystery and corrected the cannibalism.
— Ben Crair, Smithsonian, "Why Are These Hamsters Cannibalizing Their Young?," 21 Feb. 2018
//In 1854, explorer John Rae heard accounts from Inuit people suggesting that some of Franklin's crew resorted to cannibalism in their final days.
— Megan Gannon, Smithsonian, "Divers Get an Eerie First Look Inside the Arctic Shipwreck of the HMS Terror," 30 Aug. 2019
//Even small fluctuations in temperature, dissolved oxygen levels or salinity—among a multitude of other factors—can be deadly (not to mention the cannibalism problem).
— Tik Root, Time, "Inside the Race to Build the World's First Commercial Octopus Farm," 21 Aug. 2019
//The New Testament is silent on the questions of, among other things, child pornography and cannibalism, but Christians are not expected to maintain a morally indifferent attitude toward these.
— Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, "Playing God," 8 Sep. 2019
//Inuits had passed down a trail of disturbing oral histories about the ailing white men who came ashore like Arctic refugees, succumbing to exposure, starvation and even, possibly, cannibalism.
— Meagan Flynn, Anchorage Daily News, "A doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic killed 129 men. Now the ship’s artifacts have been found ‘frozen in time.’," 29 Aug. 2019
//Exactly what drove them to extinction, however, remains a mystery, with their disappearance variously attributed to anything from climate change to inferior cognitive abilities or even cannibalism.
— The Economist, "Neanderthals had a propensity for earache, nudging them to their doom," 12 Sep. 2019

First Known Use of cannibalism

1634, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Dictionary Entries near cannibalism

More Definitions forcannibalism

cannibalism