anthropoid

American  

[an-thruh-poid] / ˈæn θrəˌpɔɪd /

adjective

1. resembling humans.

2. Anthropology, Zoology. belonging or pertaining to the group of primates characterized by a relatively flat face, dry nose, small immobile ears, and forward-facing eyes, comprising New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes, including humans: these primates were formerly classified into their own suborder, Anthropoidea, which has been supplanted by the more inclusive suborder Haplorhini.

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noun

1. anthropoid ape.

anthropoid British  

/ ˈænθrəˌpɔɪd /

adjective

1. resembling man

2. resembling an ape; apelike

3. of or relating to the suborder Anthropoidea

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noun

1. any primate of the suborder Anthropoidea, including monkeys, apes, and man Compare prosimian

Other Word Forms

• anthropoidal adjective
• pseudoanthropoid adjective

Etymology

Origin of anthropoid

First recorded in 1825–35; anthropo-, + -oid ( def. )

Example Sentences

Novelist Samuel Butler’s 1872 science-fiction classic Erewhon, for instance, features concerns about robotic superhuman intelligences that enslave their anthropoid architects, rendering them “affectionate machine-tickling aphids”.

From Nature • Oct. 1, 2019

One anthropoid branch, the New World monkeys, is found in Central and South America.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2018

One of the tombs has a burial shaft carved in rock and leads to a chamber where anthropoid lids and four sarcophagi for two women and two men were found.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 16, 2017

Dr. Gingerich agreed, however, that the new skeleton was close to the divergence between the anthropoid and tarsier branches of primates.

From New York Times • Jun. 5, 2013

The aids virus may well have jumped into the human race from African primates, from monkeys and anthropoid apes.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston