inhumane
Americanadjective
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Etymology
Origin of inhumane
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Explanation
The adjective inhumane means cruel and heartless. Use it to describe terrible things like your neighbor's inhumane treatment of his hound dogs, which he leaves tied up in the yard in all kinds of weather. Whenever someone acts without considering the discomfort or pain of another person or animal, you can describe their actions as inhumane. A cruel government that keeps prisoners in terrible conditions is inhumane, and the treatment of farm animals is in some cases revealed to be inhumane by investigators. The word inhumane was originally a synonym of inhuman, literally "not human," but it fell out of use and then was revived in the 1820s to mean the opposite of humane.
Vocabulary lists containing inhumane
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King, Jr. (1963)
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Negative Words to Describe a Person
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Surviving Hitler
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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.
Ben Shelton defeats Carlos Alcaraz in a glorious match that finished at an inhumane hour.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
Is it a sight of pure, inhumane evil, or do their blank expressions merely reflect a corruption that can still be reversed?
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026
The recording was met with disbelief in the South American country, with some describing the messaging as callous and inhumane.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
“That was so outrageous and inhumane and a gut punch to the families,” she says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
It was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who first opened my eyes to the injustices that came with segregation and the inhumane treatment of black people in Birmingham.
From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
