domestication

noun

do·​mes·​ti·​ca·​tion də-ˌme-sti-ˈkā-shən 

: the act or process of domesticating something or someone or the state of being domesticated: such as

a

: the adaptation of a plant or animal from a wild or natural state (as by selective breeding) to life in close association with humans

Wild and feral dogs are hunters, but domestication and differential breeding have modified breed and individual predatory motivation.

—Julia Albright

Horse domestication revolutionized transport, communications, and warfare in prehistory, yet the identification of early domestication processes has been problematic.

—Alan K. Outram et al.

b

: the process of adapting someone or the state of being adapted to domestic life

But my father-in-law was also the very soul of domestication and familial responsibility, a man of regular habits who tied up his garbage with the spare lengths of string he collected in a Maxwell House coffee can …

—Garret Keizer

c

: the adaptation of something to meet the expectations or tastes of ordinary people

When you think about it, the whole buzzy excitement surrounding The Aristocrats, with its torrents of obscenity, points to another new phenomenon this summer: the domestication of raunch.

—Gregory Kirschling

Examples of domestication in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Their domestication on these steppes created powerful nomadic empires; prompted the building of the Great Wall by the Chinese, who were anxious about invasion; and carried the armies of Genghis Khan to the walls of Vienna in the 13th century. —Stanley Stewart, Condé Nast Traveler, 22 Mar. 2024

Many farm animals grow a natural winter coat to help endure frigid temperatures, but their domestication brings a certain level of responsibility to the people who own them. —Kylie Martin, Detroit Free Press, 19 Jan. 2024

According to the authors of the research, the results challenge the traditional conception of cats as socially aloof, and suggest that some species — whether considered social or asocial — acquire the ability to recognize people’s voices as a result of close contact, rather than domestication. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 15 Feb. 2024

The ease with which Cronenberg’s characters and his viewers yield to the sublime paradox of the frisson is revealing, for evidently even the most hardened domestication is still quick to crumble. —Becca Rothfeld, The New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2024

According to the team, the positive results of their tests — which involved an assembly of tigers, lions, leopards, lynxes, cougars, cheetahs, and servals, among others — indicate that vocal recognition is not a skill dependent on domestication. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 15 Feb. 2024

According to Vonk, close human contact instead of domestication was associated more closely with the cats’ ability to discriminate between human voices. —Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 15 Feb. 2024

The famed 14,200-year-old Paleolithic pup found buried with a human at Bonn-Oberkassel, Germany, may be the earliest hard evidence for dog domestication. —Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 Feb. 2024

Read More: How Dogs Have Uniquely Co-Evolved With Humans Like No Other Species When Were Cats Domesticated? Cats, on the other hand, were a much more recent domestic development, with their domestication beginning around 10,000 years ago, according to another paper published in Nature. —Sam Walters, Discover Magazine, 11 Jan. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1718, in the meaning defined above