Neanderthal

American  

[nee-an-der-thawl, -tawl, -tahl, nay-ahn-der-tahl] / niˈæn dərˌθɔl, -ˌtɔl, -ˌtɑl, neɪˈɑn dərˌtɑl /

Also Neandertal

adjective

1. of or relating to Neanderthal man.

2. (often lowercase) primitive, unenlightened, or reactionary; culturally or intellectually backward.

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noun

• Neanderthals
  plural

1. Neanderthal man.

2. (often lowercase)

   1. an unenlightened or ignorant person; barbarian.

   2. a reactionary; a person with very old-fashioned ideas.

Neanderthal British  

/ nɪˈændəˌtɑːl /

adjective

1. relating to or characteristic of Neanderthal man

2. primitive; uncivilized

3. informal ultraconservative; reactionary

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noun

1. a person showing any such characteristics

Neanderthal Scientific  

/ nē-ăn′dər-thôl′,-tôl′ /

1. An extinct variety of human that lived throughout Europe and in parts of western Asia and northern Africa during the late Pleistocene Epoch, until about 30,000 years ago. Neanderthals had a stocky build and large skulls with thick eyebrow ridges and big teeth. They usually lived in caves, made flaked stone tools, and were the earliest humans known to bury their dead. Neanderthals were either a subspecies of modern humans (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or a separate, closely related species (Homo neanderthalensis). They coexisted with early modern humans (Cro-Magnons) for several thousand years before becoming extinct, but are not generally believed to have interbred with them.

2. See also Mousterian

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Neanderthal Cultural  

1. The ancient and now extinct relatives of modern humans. Neanderthals lived in Europe about 150,000 years ago and were the earliest form of the human species, Homo sapiens.

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Discover More

The term Neanderthal is sometimes used to refer to a person who is thought to have primitive or unenlightened ideas: “I tried talking politics to Joe, but he's a real Neanderthal.”

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Neanderthaler
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• Neanderthals
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Neanderthal

First recorded in 1860–65; after Neanderthal, valley in Germany, near Düsseldorf, where evidence of Neanderthal man was first found

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Explanation

A neanderthal is someone who is rude and not very smart. If your brother interrupts your garden party by spraying your guests with a hose, you can call him a neanderthal. When neanderthal is spelled with a lower-case n, it means a cretin or a dolt — a rough, mean, and slightly foolish person. If you spell it with a capital N, it means an extinct species of human being, and it's the root of the lower-case version. The word Neanderthal is German, named for the Neander Valley where human fossils have been found, and around 1926 neanderthal became popular British slang for a "big, brutish, stupid person."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Neanderthal Neanderthals

A key piece of that evidence is a study published in 2022 of very early Neanderthal skulls from northern Spain at an archaeological site called "the Pit of Bones".

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

A Neanderthal who died 75,000 years ago may have been struck through the chest by a sharpened wooden spear, archaeologists say.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Among the most common genetic traces in Neanderthal tartar were remains from Diptera, the insect group that includes flies and mosquitoes.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

The amount detected in Neanderthal samples was similar to levels found in western chimpanzees, which use insects to supplement their diets on the savanna, particularly during droughts.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 27, 2026

Although those Africans of 100,000 years ago had more modern skeletons than did their Neanderthal contemporaries, they made essentially the same crude stone tools as Neanderthals, still lacking standardized shapes.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Remains of at least 10 Neanderthals were discovered in excavations in the cave in the 1950s.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Neanderthals were a separate species of humans that went extinct around 40,000 years ago.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

We can't tell for sure whether these Neanderthals were hurt by a companion during a hunt or murdered by a rival.

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

Although the experiments do not prove that Neanderthals actually applied birch tar to wounds, they demonstrate that the material they were capable of producing had properties that could have made it useful for medical care.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

The two populations remained completely distinct, and when the Neanderthals died out, or were killed off, their genes died with them.

From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari

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