humane
- characterized by tenderness, compassion, and sympathy for people and animals, especially for the suffering or distressed: humane treatment of prisoners.
- acting in a manner that causes the least harm to people or animals: humane trapping of stray pets.
- of or relating to humanistic studies.
Origin of humane
Synonyms for humane
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms for humane
Related Words for humaneness
mercy, empathy, tenderness, sorrow, benevolence, humanity, sympathy, kindness, grace, righteousness, honesty, friendliness, generosity, superiority, virtue, rightness, integrity, morality, graciousness, benignityExamples from the Web for humaneness
Historical Examples of humaneness
Are not quacks then, whom we know, better than the doctors who put on an air of humaneness?
Indian Home RuleM. K. Gandhi
Religion does not generate sense, logic, or humaneness in the mind of Society.
Flowers of FreethoughtGeorge W. Foote
He is the epitome of mildness, the incarnation of humaneness.
Comrade KropotkinVictor Robinson
So when his desire is the virtue of humaneness, and he attains it, how shall he then be covetous?
The Wisdom of ConfuciusEpiphanius Wilson
We must be humane; humaneness is not only beautiful, but also advantageous to us.
The ShieldVarious
humane
- characterized by kindness, mercy, sympathy, etc
- inflicting as little pain as possiblea humane killing
- civilizing or liberal (esp in the phrases humane studies, humane education)
Word Origin for humane
Word Origin and History for humaneness
humane
mid-15c., variant of human (cf. german/germane, urban/urbane), used interchangeably with it until early 18c., by which time it had become a distinct word with sense of "having qualities befitting human beings." But inhuman still can be the opposite of humane. The Royal Humane Society (founded 1774) was originally to rescue drowning persons. Such societies had turned to animal care by late 19c.