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

For the scientists, these findings reveal two seemingly opposite aspects of Neanderthal behavior in the life of a single individual.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

Shanidar Cave, situated in the foothills of Iraqi Kurdistan, has played a major role in changing scientific views of Neanderthal behavior.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 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

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

So the populations did not merge, but a few lucky Neanderthal genes did hitch a ride on the Sapiens Express.

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

Since 2015, the Cambridge-led archaeological team has identified three additional Neanderthals within the cave's previously known cluster of remains.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

Genetic studies have also established that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, leaving traces of their DNA in populations alive today.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

Pomeroy acknowledges that accidents involving wooden spears would have been possible, particularly when Neanderthals hunted large, dangerous animals at close range.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

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

From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026

How then should we understand the biological relatedness of Sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans?

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

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