humanity

American  

[hyoo-man-i-tee, yoo-] / hjuˈmæn ɪ ti, ju- /

noun

• humanities
  plural

1. all human beings collectively; the human race; humankind.

2. the quality or condition of being human; human nature.

3. the quality of being humane; kindness; benevolence.

   Synonyms:

   goodwill, tenderness, sympathy

   Antonyms:

   unkindness, inhumanity

4. the humanities,

   1. the study of classical languages and classical literature.

   2. the Latin and Greek classics as a field of study.

   3. literature, philosophy, art, etc., as distinguished from the natural sciences.

   4. the study of literature, philosophy, art, etc.

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humanity British  

/ hjuːˈmænɪtɪ /

noun

1. the human race

2. the quality of being human

3. kindness or mercy

4. (plural) the study of literature, philosophy, and the arts

5. the study of Ancient Greek and Roman language, literature, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• antihumanity
  noun
• overhumanity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• humanities
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

humanity humanities

Picking up after the events of “WandaVision,” the show will see Vision “beginning to ask rather more complicated questions” about his identity and humanity, according to Bettany.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2026

They fear AI will wipe out jobs or, even worse, humanity itself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 15, 2026

Musk was characteristically optimistic: His goal is to make humanity a multi-planetary species.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

After a similar incident in 2012, the family who were kicked off appeared on NBC's Today Show to accuse the airline of showing a lack of humanity.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

But our brokenness is also the source of our common humanity, the basis for our shared search for comfort, meaning, and healing.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson

While this push to redirect the country’s scientific research has incited alarm, reactions to interventions in the historical humanities have been more muted.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

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

The multi-day exam, which began Sunday, drills test-takers on subjects including Chinese, mathematics, English, science and the humanities -- with the tallied scores to be released later this month.

From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026

Under the new arrangements, arts GCSEs will be given equal status, external to humanities and languages.

From BBC ● May 18, 2026

Artists and others involved in the humanities are sometimes the first to declare that the value of what they do cannot be measured.

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

Related Words

• compassion
• empathy
• friendship
• generosity
• goodness
• goodwill
• kindness