-
Trending Now:
More Trending:
- transgender beleaguer scaramouch non sequitur admiral's mast
- ALL
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
Explore M-W
Recent Examples of cannibalism from the Web
-
Gajdusek found that the disease spread through ritualistic cannibalism, as participants, usually women and children, ate highly infectious brains and other body parts from deceased relatives.
-
Dahmer was convicted of murdering 16 men and boys between 1978 and 1991; his notoriety in the serial-killer canon stems from the grizzly, gruesome nature of his crimes and the evidence of cannibalism and necrophilia discovered upon his arrest.
-
There’s a lot of galaxies, there’s a lot more merging, a lot more cannibalism.
-
Found guilty on charges of murder and many other offenses (though not including cannibalism), he was sentenced to life imprisonment but subsequently released on amnesty in 1993.
-
Some have signs of cannibalism, according to a recent study that confirmed 19th-century reports of Inuit witnesses describing piles of fractured human bones.
-
Still to come: white-water rapids, an inquisitive panther, and a surprisingly cheerful sojourn with practitioners of cannibalism.
-
The Cannibalism Catch There are also serious drawbacks to being a cannibal.
-
One chicken farmer at Polyface Farms in Virginia reported a nasty case of cannibalism after feeding his chickens a vegetarian diet.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'cannibalism'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of cannibalism
1796
Medical Dictionary
cannibalism
playMedical Definition of cannibalism
1: the usually ritualistic eating of human flesh by a human being
2: the eating of the flesh or the eggs of any animal by its own kind
3: the pecking and tearing of the live flesh of its own members in a domestic poultry flock—compare pecking order
4: oral sadism
Learn More about cannibalism
-
See words that rhyme with cannibalism Spanish Central: Translation of cannibalism Nglish: Translation of cannibalism for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of cannibalism for Arabic speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cannibalism
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up cannibalism? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Writing? Check your grammar now!