hominid

or hom·o·nid

[ hom-uh-nid ]
See synonyms for hominid on Thesaurus.com
nounAnthropology, Zoology.
  1. any member of the family Hominidae, consisting of all modern and extinct humans and great apes (including gorillas, chimpanzees, and orangutans), and all their immediate ancestors.: See also hominin.

Compare Meanings

Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.

Origin of hominid

1
1885–90; <New Latin Hominidae, equivalent to Latin homin- (stem of homō ) “human being, man” (see Homo) + -idae

word story For hominid

See hominin.

Words Nearby hominid

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hominid in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for hominid

hominid

/ (ˈhɒmɪnɪd) /


noun
  1. any primate of the family Hominidae, which includes modern man (Homo sapiens) and the extinct precursors of man

adjective
  1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Hominidae

Origin of hominid

1
C19: via New Latin from Latin homo man + -id ²

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for hominid

hominid

[ hŏmə-nĭd ]


  1. Any of various primates of the family Hominidae, whose only living members are modern humans. Hominids are characterized by an upright gait, increased brain size and intelligence compared with other primates, a flattened face, and reduction in the size of the teeth and jaw. Besides the modern species Homo sapiens, hominids also include extinct species of Homo (such as H. erectus) and the extinct genus Australopithecus. In some classifications, the family Hominidae also includes the anthropoid apes.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.