ape-man
Americannoun
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a hypothetical primate representing a transitional form between true humans and the anthropoid apes, considered by some as constituting the genus Australopithecus.
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a human assumed to have been reared by apes.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ape-man
First recorded in 1860–65; ape ( def. ) + man ( 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.
What looks like an ape-man is probably a bear standing on its hind legs.
From Washington Post • Aug. 8, 2019
In “2001,” an ape-man turns a bone into a weapon, initiating a progression that traces humanity from, as it’s been described, ape to angel.
From New York Times • May 17, 2018
I like any kind of weird ape-man creature type stuff.
From New York Times • May 9, 2018
Many anthropologists, however, have adopted a sort of compromise calendar which makes Pekin Man 1,000,000 years old; Pithecanthropus erectus, the ape-man of Java, 500,000 years old; England's famed Piltdown Man about 300,000 years old.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was definitely not a gorilla; she has since seen some of those at the Bronx Zoo, and this ape-man was nothing like them.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
Definitions 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.
