How to Use phrenology in a Sentence

phrenology

noun
  • True-crime fans who have had a little bit too much screen time basically do phrenology on serial killers.
    — Vulture, 8 Feb. 2023
  • Some of these studies have not been replicated, and have been criticized as a modern form of phrenology.
    — Brandon Keim, WIRED, 12 Jan. 2009
  • Some of these were fads, such as phrenology (the idea that personality or psychology could be determined by the shape of the head).
    — Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Dec. 2020
  • But others disliked the stench of charlatanism that clung to any ideas associated with phrenology.
    — Grace Huckins, Wired, 17 Aug. 2020
  • The most brutal work is a measurement of her head and its angles, based on the pseudoscience of phrenology and racial classification.
    — Pablo Larios, Artforum, 6 May 2026
  • Visitors could have their cranial measurements taken on the spot, in keeping with the voguish interest in phrenology.
    — Patrick Iber, The New Republic, 14 Aug. 2019
  • The myopia required to derive true meaning from such a thing—barely more sophisticated than phrenology—is staggering.
    — Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Reiki, sound bathing, The Telepathy Tapes, tarot, Santa Claus, phrenology.
    — Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 13 Feb. 2026
  • Microclimate and phrenology are explained with clarity and sufficient depth.
    — Sally Peterson, oregonlive, 23 Apr. 2021
  • There were also sections on the latest technological advances (like telegraphy and phrenology).
    — Jim Euchner, Forbes, 27 Dec. 2024
  • Pseudosciences like phrenology were used to politely assert the inferiority of black people.
    — Danielle Tcholakian, Longreads, 7 Apr. 2018
  • The movie talks a bit about the pseudoscientific lineage of this kind of thought — phrenology, eugenics and other attempts to use data to enforce social hierarchies.
    — John Defore, The Hollywood Reporter, 10 Mar. 2018
  • What about Holocaust denial or whatever modern incarnation of phrenology posits that black people lack sufficient intellect to vote?
    — Valerie Strauss, Washington Post, 31 May 2018
  • Further still, the history of pseudosciences such as phrenology and race science have also led to lasting consequences on the perception of Black people as lesser beings.
    — De-Shaine Murray, STAT, 29 Nov. 2023
  • Often rooted in flawed research, this has taken form in phrenology, justifications for slavery, and eugenics, all of which with devastating consequences.
    — Thiago Arzua, STAT, 15 Mar. 2024
  • Colorful phrenology charts—with tracts blocked off for human faculties like benevolence, appetite and language—can still be found in antiquated medical texts and the home decor sections of department stores.
    — Marla Broadfoot, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 May 2023
  • The 19th century field of phrenology, for example, held that the shape of one’s skull could determine one’s propensity for criminality and violence.
    — Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 31 Mar. 2016
  • Colorful phrenology charts — with tracts blocked off for human faculties like benevolence, appetite and language — can still be found in antiquated medical texts and the home decor sections of department stores.
    — Marla Broadfoot, Discover Magazine, 21 May 2023
  • One of Mensa’s co-founders, Roland Berrill, believed in the pseudoscience of phrenology, which involves measuring skulls to predict mental ability.
    — Cat Zhang, The New Yorker, 9 Mar. 2020
  • This belief isn’t based on empirical evidence, but on a 19th-century hypothesis about free will that has more in common with phrenology than with our modern understanding of how brains work.
    — Joanna Klein, New York Times, 11 May 2017
  • Modern neuroscience has been accused of being a ‘new phrenology‘, but now researchers have conducted a modern evaluation of phrenological claims using neuroscience methods.
    — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 7 Jan. 2018
  • Pseudosciences such as phrenology and eugenics have attempted to ascribe a biological rationalization for the oppression of certain groups.
    — Harry Bruinius, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Aug. 2017
  • No chemistry department would extend an invitation to an alchemist; no reputable department of psychology would entertain a lecture espousing phrenology.
    — Jelani Cobb, The New Yorker, 15 Feb. 2017
  • Paton, a practitioner of phrenology, a pseudo-science that makes inferences about mental faculties and character traits based on the shape of the skull, took particular interest in Adie’s cranium.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 3 Sep. 2019
  • By Pankaj Mishra Back in the 19th century, powerful men legitimating cruel inequalities thought phrenology was objective.
    — Pankaj Mishra and Leslie Jamison, New York Times, 3 Jan. 2017
  • To broaden Kelso’s story, the author takes every opportunity to look beyond the man, with cogent discussions of national political and cultural trends and enlightening digressions on everything from phrenology to dueling.
    — Gerard Helferich, WSJ, 19 Dec. 2021
  • With its title mocking the attempts of phrenology to diminish the worth of African Americans, Smith paints dignified portraits of everyday black people—a bootblack, a washerman—as examples of the unique personalities inherent to every human being.
    — Bryan Greene, Smithsonian Magazine, 26 Feb. 2021
  • In Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, Duchenne laid important foundations for both Darwin and Ekman, connecting older ideas from physiognomy and phrenology with more modern investigations into physiology and psychology.
    — Kate Crawford, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'phrenology.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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