humane
Other forms: humaner; humanest
A humane person is one who shows great compassion and caring for others, including animals, and who tries whenever possible to alleviate another's suffering.
The idea of being humane is linked to a higher level of a person's character. While the word is derived from the word human, the sad fact is that a person can be human without being humane. Britain's Royal Humane Society, created in 1774 to rescue drowning people, focuses on recognizing acts of human bravery. In the United States, however, the Humane Society works to eliminate cruelty to animals. Still, both focus on kindness and the humane care of others.
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marked or motivated by concern with the alleviation of sufferingsynonyms:compassionateshowing or having compassionhumanhaving human form or attributes as opposed to those of animals or divine beingschild-centereddesigned to promote a child's personal qualities rather than to provide training or informationhuman-centered, human-centred, humanist, humanistic, humanitarianmarked by humanistic values and devotion to human welfaremercifulshowing or giving mercyantonyms:inhumanereflecting lack of pity or compassionbarbarous, brutal, cruel, fell, roughshod, savage, vicious(of persons or their actions) able or disposed to inflict pain or sufferingcannibalicmarked by barbarity suggestive of a cannibal; rapaciously savagepainfulcausing physical or psychological pain
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showing evidence of moral and intellectual advancement
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pertaining to or concerned with the humanities“a humane education”synonyms: humanist, humanistic
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Vocabulary lists containing humane
To settle a bet, a lawyer decides to stay in solitary confinement for fifteen years. Read the full text here. Here is a link to our list for Home by Anton Chekhov.
Translated by Matthew Ward, Camus’s seminal 1942 novel follows Meursault — a young Frenchman in Algeria — who is condemned for his unemotional response to the death of his mother.