humanness
Americannoun
-
the quality or condition of being human or characteristic of humans.
Loss of intellect, as when a person is severely brain-damaged, does not mean loss of humanness.
It’s an essay on the humanness of language—how it serves as a hallmark distinguishing humankind from other animals.
-
human limitation, weakness, or imperfection.
Employers need to embrace the humanness of their workforce, with all its flaws, frailty, and emotional vulnerability.
In a fitness class, the sheer humanness of feeling awkward and sweating together relaxes relationships.
-
sympathetic, relatable, or humane quality.
The memoir was refreshing in its honesty, vulnerability, and humanness.
Greed can drive people beyond their humanness into great cruelty and inhumanity.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of humanness
First recorded in 1690–1700; human ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )
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.
And so you get a power that’s much greater than your own, and you begin to look on other human beings with the type of awe and respect that their humanness deserves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
“I’m interested in touch, activity, humanness — the character of being alive and human — and connection,” said Haendel, who grew up on the East Coast and completed a master’s of fine art at UCLA.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026
To surrender such decisions to some putatively wiser entity is, in some essential sense, to surrender our humanness.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 15, 2025
"He has a deep love for people. He listens. He looks people in the eye. Sandy's humanness is my dad's humanness. I feel immensely lucky to be his son," he says.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2024
They moved across the room stealthily and saw that it wasn’t entirely void of humanness.
From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
