human
Americanadjective
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of, relating to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people.
human frailty.
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consisting of people.
the human race.
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of or relating to the social aspect of people.
human affairs.
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sympathetic; humane.
a warmly human understanding.
noun
adjective
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of, characterizing, or relating to man and mankind
human nature
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consisting of people
the human race
a human chain
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having the attributes of man as opposed to animals, divine beings, or machines
human failings
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kind or considerate
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natural
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noun
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A member of the species Homo sapiens; a human being.
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A member of any of the extinct species of the genus Homo, such as Homo erectus or Homo habilis, that are considered ancestral or closely related to modern humans.
Pronunciation
Pronunciations of words like human, huge, etc., with the initial deleted: , , while sometimes criticized, are heard from speakers at all social and educational levels, including professors, lawyers, and other public speakers.
Synonym Usage
Human, humane may refer to that which is, or should be, characteristic of human beings. In thus describing characteristics, human may refer to good and bad traits of a person alike ( human kindness; human weakness ). When emphasis is placed upon the latter, human is thought of as contrasted to divine: To err is human, to forgive divine. He was only human. Humane (the original spelling of human, and since 1700 restricted in meaning) takes into account only the nobler or gentler aspects of people and is often contrasted to their more ignoble or brutish aspect. A humane person is benevolent in treating fellow humans or helpless animals; the word once had also connotations of courtesy and refinement (hence, the application of humane to those branches of learning intended to refine the mind).
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of human
First recorded in 1350–1400; earlier humain(e), humayn(e), Middle English, from Middle French humain, from Latin hūmānus, akin to homō “human being”; cf. Homo ( def. ); spelling human predominant from early 18th century
Explanation
Unlike a pickle or a chipmunk, a human is a person. You can identify a human by the two legs it stands on, its upright stature, its high intelligence, and its speech that you'll understand if you're one, too. Human was first recorded in the mid 13th century, and owes its existence to the Middle French humain “of or belonging to man.” That word, in turn, comes from the Latin humanus, thought to be a hybrid relative of homo, meaning “man,” and humus, meaning “earth.”
Vocabulary lists containing human
"Principles of Business," Vocabulary from Chapter 7
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"The Legend of the Yakwawiak"
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Anthropology Lingo
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Through the cheers of an invigorated audience, Bourzgui went on to talk about how “theater is one of the last places people can come to worship the power of true collective human presence.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
Far less is spent on the all-too-linear advance of human institutions that must manage that technology.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 8, 2026
Viridor said those breaches were caused by a third-party contractor and were very small in scale, did not pose a risk to human health, and that safeguards were now in place to prevent a recurrence.
From BBC • Jun. 7, 2026
A human tsunami -- numbering more than 1.2 million people according to organisers -- braved the heat.
From Barron's • Jun. 7, 2026
But they were slow, their pudgy human legs no match for the rushing current.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
