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Neanderthal
[ nee-an-der-thawl, -tawl, -tahl; ney-ahn-der-tahl ]
adjective
- of or relating to Neanderthal man.
- (often lowercase) Informal. primitive, unenlightened, or reactionary; culturally or intellectually backward.
noun
- (often lowercase) Informal.
- an unenlightened or ignorant person; barbarian.
- a reactionary; a person with very old-fashioned ideas.
Neanderthal
/ nɪˈændəˌtɑːl /
adjective
- relating to or characteristic of Neanderthal man
- primitive; uncivilized
- informal.ultraconservative; reactionary
noun
- a person showing any such characteristics
Neanderthal
/ nē-ăn′dər-thôl′,-tôl′ /
- An extinct variety of human that lived throughout Europe and in parts of western Asia and northern Africa during the late Pleistocene Epoch, until about 30,000 years ago. Neanderthals had a stocky build and large skulls with thick eyebrow ridges and big teeth. They usually lived in caves, made flaked stone tools, and were the earliest humans known to bury their dead. Neanderthals were either a subspecies of modern humans ( Homo sapiens neanderthalensis ) or a separate, closely related species ( Homo neanderthalensis ). They coexisted with early modern humans (Cro-Magnons) for several thousand years before becoming extinct, but are not generally believed to have interbred with them.
- See also Mousterian
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Notes
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Other Words From
- Ne·ander·thaler noun
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Word History and Origins
Origin of Neanderthal1
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Example Sentences
Early on, the sexual protagonist complains that her Molson-drinking husband is pretty much an incompetent Neanderthal.
If you think of yourself as more than a knuckle-dragging Neanderthal, you can stand up and be respectful.
“He was no Neanderthal,” says former U.S. senator Richard Bryan.
Scientists extract complete Neanderthal genome from fossil—97 percent match to A&E programming.
There have been many posts lately about countries with maternity/paternity leave, it's depressing how Neanderthal America seems.
Early the next morning a little band of Neanderthal men descended the escarpment and set out toward the rising sun.
Silently each Neanderthal man stepped behind a trunk of one of the trees lining the path.
Neanderthal man had a very large head with heavy, overhanging eyebrows meeting above the nose, and a markedly retreating forehead.
One hundred thousand years of human life in Europe produced nothing higher than Neanderthal man.
And we are not so far from that ancestor as to have eliminated not indeed Neanderthal, but Neanderthaloid types.
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