humanness

[ hyoo-muhn-nis, yoo- ]

noun

1. the quality or condition of being human or characteristic of humans:

   Loss of intellect, as when a person is severely brain-damaged, does not mean loss of humanness.

   It’s an essay on the humanness of language—how it serves as a hallmark distinguishing humankind from other animals.

2. human limitation, weakness, or imperfection:

   Employers need to embrace the humanness of their workforce, with all its flaws, frailty, and emotional vulnerability.

   In a fitness class, the sheer humanness of feeling awkward and sweating together relaxes relationships.

3. sympathetic, relatable, or humane quality:

   The memoir was refreshing in its honesty, vulnerability, and humanness.

   Greed can drive people beyond their humanness into great cruelty and inhumanity.

Other Words From

• un·hu·man·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of humanness¹

First recorded in 1690–1700; human ( def ) + -ness ( def )

Example Sentences

Our health care system will fail and the cost in human life will be high.

From Popular-Science

Daimler’s trucks division said in October it had invested in Luminar as part of a broader partnership to produce autonomous trucks capable of navigating highways without a human driver behind the wheel.

From TechCrunch

With an estimated 1 million to 2 million people placed in camps, human rights groups have called the situation in Xinjiang a cultural genocide.

From Washington Post

To be by the fire feels comforting, primal and human in a way little else does right now.

From Washington Post

Fortunately, many essential human characteristics, including free will, do not reduce to individual genes.

From Washington Post

Through the tender humanness of her narrative Mrs. Mullins bids fair to gain a large audience for this intensely interesting work.

From Project Gutenberg

So long ago and longer I consciously owned an eerie quality which toppled over the edge of my humanness.

From Project Gutenberg

So Bella was fain to turn outward in search of nurturing matter whereon to feed her humanness.

From Project Gutenberg

But just let there be a smash-up or a stroke of bad luck and their shells crack and humanness just oozes out of them.

From Project Gutenberg

Here was a human soul that, save for the most glimmering of contacts, was beyond the humanness of me.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• humankind
• mankind
• society