inhumane
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- inhumanely adverb
Etymology
Origin of inhumane
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How does inhumane compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
One point that Trump officials, lawmakers and advocates for Afghan allies agree on: Keeping Afghans trapped in Camp As Sayliyah in perpetuity is inhumane.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 7, 2026
The lawmakers worry that the rush to build the facilities could “exacerbate” the same inhumane conditions at some ICE centers.
From Salon • Mar. 31, 2026
Those proposals have been criticised by rights groups as inhumane.
From Barron's • Mar. 28, 2026
The lawsuit filed Monday is the second to allege inhumane conditions at an immigration detention center in California.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 26, 2026
In the late nineteenth century, alarmed by the inhumane treatment of incarcerated people suffering from mental illness, Dorothea Dix and Reverend Louis Dwight led a successful campaign to get the mentally ill out of prison.
From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson
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.
