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Examples of inbreed in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Imagine a study in which subjects are chronically cold, sleep-deprived, inbred, and held captive in cramped conditions.
—Sonia Shah, The New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2023
When the population of a species dwindles, the remaining animals are forced to inbreed and the genetic pool shrinks, further threatening survival.
—Jacopo Prisco, CNN, 31 Mar. 2022
Southern white rhinos are threatened by inbreeding.
—Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 30 Mar. 2020
Soon, almost everyone in that population may become related to the newcomers, actually speeding up inbreeding.
—Ashley Braun, Longreads, 24 Oct. 2019
Self-fertilization, like inbreeding in animals, should pair up harmful recessive mutations, so Schwoch expected the crosses that used pollen from one stem on flowers from another to do better.
—Elizabeth Pennisi, Science | AAAS, 29 Aug. 2019
Many scientists believe mating types evolved early in life’s history as a barrier against behaviors like inbreeding that might be harmful to a population or species.
—Quanta Magazine, 17 July 2018
And as their faces got smaller, our ancestors became more social; groups of Neanderthals and other ancient humans seem to have inbred frequently, but among modern humans, there was much more contact between different groups.
—Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 10 Apr. 2018
For cancer research, this meant a stable breeding strain by which to study the biological and genetic nature of cancer in mice inbred with cancerous tumors—a realization that has defined mouse model research to this day.
—Leila McNeill, Smithsonian, 20 Mar. 2018
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'inbreed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1599, in the meaning defined at transitive sense
Dictionary Entries Near inbreed
Cite this Entry
“Inbreed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inbreed. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
Kids Definition
Medical Definition
inbreed
verb
in·breed
ˈin-ˈbrēd
inbred
-ˈbred
; inbreeding
: to subject to inbreeding
: to engage in inbreeding
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