Standard Lemma guide

polygenism

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • /pəˈlɪd͡ʒənɪzəm/

1

noun

Meaning 1

The belief that humans descended from more than one ancestral pair.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Topics: anthropology, ethnology, human-sciences, sciences

Examples

  • 2003: Such pigmental indelibility spelt polygenism for some: blacks formed a distinct species altogether, a separate creation. — Roy Porter, Flesh in the Age of Reason (Penguin 2004, p. 248)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From poly- + genism?