anthropoid

[ an-thruh-poid ]

adjective

1. resembling humans.
2. Anthropology, Zoology. belonging or pertaining to the group of primates characterized by a relatively flat face, dry nose, small immobile ears, and forward-facing eyes, comprising New World monkeys, Old World monkeys, and apes, including humans: these primates were formerly classified into their own suborder, Anthropoidea, which has been supplanted by the more inclusive suborder Haplorhini. haplorhine.

noun

1. anthropoid ape.

anthropoid

/ ˈænθrəˌpɔɪd /

adjective

1. resembling man
2. resembling an ape; apelike
3. of or relating to the suborder Anthropoidea

noun

1. any primate of the suborder Anthropoidea, including monkeys, apes, and man Compare prosimian

Derived Forms

• ˌanthroˈpoidal, adjective

Other Words From

• anthro·poidal adjective
• pseudo·anthro·poid adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of anthropoid¹

First recorded in 1825–35; anthropo-, + -oid ( def )

Example Sentences

Hitherto, no specimen of anthropoid primates had been discovered in America.”

From Scientific American

Before seeing them in person, I had always imagined the saguaro as an isolate: a green anthropoid giant, looming off in the sunset alone.

From New York Times

To those I will add a few superlatives that were not celebrated at my own high school: most melancholic, most quizzical, most skilled at vibrating the deepest strings of the anthropoid heart.

From New York Times

The pages that follow describe how the infant son of the dead Lord and Lady Greystoke is reared by an anthropoid ape named Kala and learns to survive and flourish in the African jungle.

From Washington Post

If rhesus macaques, or macaques in general, did not have beat perception, then surely, I thought, chimpanzees and other anthropoids did.

From Salon