I. ˈhyümən also ˈyü- adjective
( sometimes -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English humayne, humain, from Middle French humain, from Latin humanus, from hum- (akin to Latin homo man, human being) + -anus -an — more at homage
1.
a. : of or relating to man : characteristic of man
human voices
vulnerability of the human body
b. : primarily or usually harbored by, affecting, or attacking man
human appendicitis
the common human flea
2.
a. : being a man : consisting of men
contrived for the destruction of the human species — Tobias Smollett
the human race
some special quality in the human beings who have made this particular transition — A.J.Toynbee
b. : of or relating to the social life or collective relations of mankind
human progress
human history and evolution
in the course of human events — U.S. Declaration of Independence
3. : characteristic of or relating to man in his essential nature: as
a. : of, relating to, or resembling man or his attributes in distinction from the lower animals
to be human is to understand, to evaluate, to choose, to accept responsibility — Lewis Mumford
the gregarious impulses of human beings — J.B.Conant
b. : of or relating to man as distinguished from the superhuman, from the divine, or from nature : belonging to finite intelligence and powers
to err is human ; to forgive, divine — Alexander Pope
there are no absolutes and man must content himself with being human — H.E.Clurman
c. : susceptible to, representative of, or exemplifying the range of feelings, strengths, or weaknesses of which man is capable
a very human world, filled with joy and sorrow, innocence and evil
for all his stiff outward bearing, he is very human
the story of the ascent is a great human document
far too human a creature to care much for art — Max Beerbohm
d. : having to do with, portraying, or arising from the small or large joys, sorrows, passions, struggles, or other interest-provoking experiences or situations of individual persons
human comedy
full of the milk of human kindness — Shakespeare
those human -interest yarns — Erle Stanley Gardner
no business like book retailing for human interest — Allan McMahan
a careful history of the human side of the whole case — M.R.Cohen
nearly all these books contain the same human stories about the Queen — New York Times Book Review
4. : symbolized in a representation of the zodiac or in a configuration of the stars by a man (as Aquarius), woman (as Virgo), or child (as Gemini)
5. : humane
balance her sharp tongue and uncertain moods against her warmly human disposition — Havelock Ellis
6. : having some of the characteristics of a living person : like a human
the nearest of blood to me and the humanest was not a person nor a villager — H.D.Thoreau
the woods began to open up, and the country looked more human — Willa Cather
the statue is more human than the beings at his feet — Clifton Fadiman
the humbler aspects of our cities are more human than the skyscrapers — Walter Pach
7. : consisting of members of the family Hominidae : hominid
the several fossil human genera
8. : unpredictably fallible or erratic : not behaving by known law : enigmatic
must always consider the human element
Americans like other human beings are bewilderingly human — Max Lerner
such an inconsistency is very human — P.E.More
II. noun
( -s )
: a human being
sprung of humans that inhabit earth — George Chapman
incomprehensible to us humans — William James
no human since Adam — G.W.Cable
the least developed of all ancestral humans — A.L.Kroeber
what has been found true about rats may be applied to humans — E.E.Slosson
like most of us lazy and indecisive humans — T.H.Fielding
as completely scientific and objective an approach as a human is capable of — R.A.Hall b. 1911
two thousand million humans — G.H.T.Kimble