humanity
Americannoun
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all human beings collectively; the human race; humankind.
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the quality or condition of being human; human nature.
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the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.
- Synonyms:
- goodwill, tenderness, sympathy
- Antonyms:
- unkindness, inhumanity
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the humanities,
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the study of classical languages and classical literature.
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the Latin and Greek classics as a field of study.
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literature, philosophy, art, etc., as distinguished from the natural sciences.
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the study of literature, philosophy, art, etc.
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noun
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the human race
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the quality of being human
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kindness or mercy
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(plural) the study of literature, philosophy, and the arts
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the study of Ancient Greek and Roman language, literature, etc
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of humanity
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English humanite, from Latin hūmānitās; equivalent to human + -ity
Explanation
Humanity is the human race, which includes everyone on Earth. It’s also a word for the qualities that make us human, such as the ability to love and have compassion, be creative, and not be a robot or alien. The word humanity is from the Latin humanitas for "human nature, kindness.” Humanity includes all the humans, but it can also refer to the kind feelings humans often have for each other. Awww. But when you talk about humanity, you could just be talking about people as a whole. When people do bad things, it tests your faith in humanity. When people ask for money to help feed starving children, they're appealing to your sense of humanity.
Vocabulary lists containing humanity
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961
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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.
See Examples For:
The Apple TV show is set in a post-apocalyptic world in which most of humanity has been infected with an alien virus creating a peaceful hive mind, with only 13 outliers immune.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
The ICC, based in the Dutch city of The Hague, is a global court with the power to bring prosecutions for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
It is to learn how to make different fields of knowledge speak to one another, each working in its own way to analyze traces of humanity that are incomplete.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 7, 2026
The United Nations’s chief wants humanity to forbid killer robots.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
Presentiments are strange things! and so are sympathies; and so are signs; and the three combined make one mystery to which humanity has not yet found the key.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
An additional 1,600, including those in humanities, social sciences and arts, later joined to argue that verbal reasoning and writing skills were lacking too.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
Mr. Guelzo is a professor of humanities at the University of Florida’s Hamilton School and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
Lambert, a lecturer in medical humanities, described the documents as a "significant" step in further understanding what happened at the home.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2026
In fact, as both were in their twenties, they did not have much experience in anything at all—certainly not in anything remotely related to the humanities.
From Slate ● May 14, 2026
In humanities class, people are starting to freak out and second-guess their paradoxes.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
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.
