inhumane
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
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.
Inhumane training may be tough on an athlete, goes the thinking, but it’s the only way to achieve dominance in a sport in which the window of opportunity is so short.
From New York Times • May 4, 2021
Inhumane Fair! said he, Must you hate me because I love you? can you Resolve not to let me see you, only because you know I desir'd it more than before?
From Olinda's Adventures: or the Amours of a Young Lady by Anonymous
How good Natur'd, how gentle, how unaffected was the Ceremoniale of his Gesture, and how unfit for a Profession so Merciless and Inhumane!
From Parodies of Ballad Criticism (1711-1787) A Comment Upon the History of Tom Thumb, 1711, by William Wagstaffe; The Knave of Hearts, 1787, by George Canning by Wagstaffe, William
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.
