humanity

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Humankind; human beings as a group.

   Then he commenced to talk, really talk. and inside of two flaps of a herring's fin he had me mesmerized, like Eben Holt's boy at the town hall show. He talked about the ills of humanity, and the glories of health and Nature and service and land knows what all.

2. 2
   noun

   The quality of being benevolent; humane traits of character; humane qualities or aspects.

   Think of that; by that sweet girl that old man had a child: hold ye then there can be any utter, hopeless harm in Ahab? No, no, my lad; stricken, blasted, if he be, Ahab has his humanities!

3. 3
   noun

   Any academic subject belonging to the humanities.

   Philosophy is a humanity while psychology is a science.

4. 4
   noun

   all of the living human inhabitants of the earth

5. 5
   noun

   the quality of being human

6. 6
   noun

   the quality of being humane

7. 7
   noun

   The human condition or nature.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English humanyte, humanite, humanitye. By surface analysis, human or humane + -ity. Partly displaced mankind, from Old English mancynn (literally “human race”).