humanness
Americannoun
-
the quality or condition of being human or characteristic of humans.
Loss of intellect, as when a person is severely brain-damaged, does not mean loss of humanness.
It’s an essay on the humanness of language—how it serves as a hallmark distinguishing humankind from other animals.
-
human limitation, weakness, or imperfection.
Employers need to embrace the humanness of their workforce, with all its flaws, frailty, and emotional vulnerability.
In a fitness class, the sheer humanness of feeling awkward and sweating together relaxes relationships.
-
sympathetic, relatable, or humane quality.
The memoir was refreshing in its honesty, vulnerability, and humanness.
Greed can drive people beyond their humanness into great cruelty and inhumanity.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of humanness
First recorded in 1690–1700; human ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )
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.
“I’m interested in touch, activity, humanness — the character of being alive and human — and connection,” said Haendel, who grew up on the East Coast and completed a master’s of fine art at UCLA.
From Los Angeles Times • May 8, 2026
To surrender such decisions to some putatively wiser entity is, in some essential sense, to surrender our humanness.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 15, 2025
"He has a deep love for people. He listens. He looks people in the eye. Sandy's humanness is my dad's humanness. I feel immensely lucky to be his son," he says.
From Salon • Sep. 27, 2024
The interaction reinspired hope in our shared humanness and inherent desire and ability to help each other.
From Seattle Times • Aug. 18, 2023
They laughed then, uproariously, about the speed with which they had run, the pose they had assumed, the ruse they had invented to escape or decrease some threat to their manliness, their humanness.
From "Song of Solomon" by Toni Morrison
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.
