the genus of bipedal primates that includes modern humans and several extinct forms, distinguished by their large brains and a dependence upon tools.
Facetious. (used in made-up taxonomic expressions to denote a type of human being).
The door opens, and in walks Homo stupidus.
First recorded in 1920–25; by shortening of homosexual ( def. )
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Latin homō “man, human,” literally “the earthly one,” derivative of humus “earth, ground, soil”; related to Latin hūmānus “pertaining to man, human”; akin to Old English guma, Old Irish duine, Welsh dyn, Old Lithuanian žmuõ “human being”; see humus, human
< Greek, combining form of homós one and the same; akin to Sanskrit sama-; see same
The genus that includes modern humans is called Homo. "Homo sapiens" are modern humans. Our ancestors had names like "Homo neanderthalensis" and "Homo erectus." Homo is a Latin word that means man, or human. When it is used as a prefix, as in "homosexual," it comes from the Greek word homos, meaning the same. It is from the word "homosexual" that the noun homo is shortened and takes its second meaning — a derogatory term for a homosexual or gay man. Its use is offensive, and you should use other terms instead. It is spelled with a lowercase h in this use.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But their construction, and ingenuity, has one wondering about the intelligence and fortitude of these homo sapiens who lived as many as 9,000 years ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 21, 2025
His brand of toiletry involves writing stories for the absolutely lowest common denominator of homo sapiens.
From Salon ● Apr. 27, 2024
Q: Have homo sapiens evolved into the so-called “homo technologicus?”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2023
Directed by Mark Mannucci, “Unknown: Cave of Bones,” focuses on a recent expedition into a South African cave that contains skeletal remains of the ancient human relative homo naledi.
From New York Times ● Jul. 17, 2023
Jonah pressed his pencil down too hard on the sapiens part of homo sapiens, and the lead snapped.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
These conditions gave birth to a new type of person, which the writer Alexander Zinoviev called Homo Sovieticus, or Homosos; the term sovok was also common.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
The discovery pushes back the oldest known evidence of rainforest habitation by more than double previous estimates and suggests early Homo sapiens were far more adaptable than once believed.
From Science Daily ● May 20, 2026
Nominally the case turned on OpenAI’s conversion to a for-profit company and Mr. Musk’s worries about Homo sapiens being displaced by superintelligent robots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 19, 2026
That pattern appears to strengthen significantly with the emergence of the genus Homo.
From Science Daily ● May 18, 2026
Homo sapiens has kept hidden an even more disturbing secret.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
They replace explicit references to homo- and heterosexuality—which would indicate disparate treatment—with the catch-all terms sexual orientation and gender identity.
From Slate ● Jan. 27, 2022
It is one in which the conventions of both homo- and heteronormative expression are called into question daily.
From New York Times ● Sep. 18, 2018
“Your homo- or heterosexuality is neither a virtue nor a flaw. It just isn’t. Who you want to have sex with is not something you cultivate.”
From The Guardian ● Apr. 29, 2017
Another key structural problem is to understand how GPCRs associate to form homo- or hetero-oligomers.
From Nature ● Feb. 13, 2013
Its 114 homo- words will show how this huge number is partly supplied.
From Society for Pure English, Tract 02 On English Homophones by Bridges, Robert Seymour
But the epochal battle between homos neanderthalensis and sapiens takes the most English form imaginable: a football match.
From Slate ● Feb. 14, 2018
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.
