human interest

noun

1. a quality of a story or report, as in a newspaper or on a newscast, that engages attention and sympathy by enabling one to identify readily with the people, problems, and situations described.

human interest

noun

1. (in a newspaper story, news broadcasting, etc) reference to individuals and their emotions

Other Word Forms

• human-interest adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of human interest¹

First recorded in 1775–80

Example Sentences

Human interest stories and speechifying might lament or deplore common predicaments, but their storylines rarely connect the destructive effects of economic insecurity with the ways that corporate power plunders social resources and fleeces the working class.

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Kellyman is terrific opposite Squibb, but this unconventional friendship tale is the kind of slight human interest story that slips from your consciousness almost as soon as it has made its brief impression.

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Annie enjoys covering trends in human interest, LGBTQ+ issues and climate policy.

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Chloë Sevigny plays Edna, the host of a globe-trotting web series that seeks out human interest stories: Bolivian teenage exorcists, Mexican fashionistas in scimitar-shaped boots and now, a singer called Super Carlitos who dresses like a bunny and bops around a village called San Cristobal.

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In this genre of the “all access” documentary, Freeman and Betts are about as good as it gets in attracting casual fans — the ones not interested in exit velocities or launch angles, but invested in human interest stories.

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