subhuman

Plural: subhumans

Adjective

• less than human or not worthy of a human being
  • "treated natives as subhuman"
  • "a subhuman spectacle"
  • "the subhuman primates"

Adjective Satellite

• unfit for human beings
  • "subhuman conditions of life"

Adj

• Lacking characteristics of a human in a way judged to be less than human by some value judgment, opinion, or belief system (as for example an anthropocentric view of nonhuman primates or a Nazi view of various human outgroups).
• As tendentiously asserted of humans.
• Lacking characteristics of a human in a way judged to be less than human by some value judgment, opinion, or belief system (as for example an anthropocentric view of nonhuman primates or a Nazi view of various human outgroups).
• As anthropocentrically asserted of nonhuman animals, especially in centuries past.

Noun

• Any sentient creature, especially a humanoid one, which is less than human by some value judgment, opinion, or belief system (as for example an anthropocentric view of nonhuman primates or a Nazi view of various human outgroups).
• pl. -S one that is less than human

Examples

• "A secret to Nazi power was that anyone from the ingroup could be turned upon and labeled as subhuman scum when some alleged Jewish ancestry was suddenly "discovered"."
• "In the belief system of his day, chimpanzees were described as subhuman and asserted to be incapable of feeling pain."
• "We say dolphin intelligence is subhuman; I suspect dolphins say our intelligence is subdolphin."

Synonyms

Untermensch, infrahuman

Antonyms

superhuman, suprahuman, ultrahuman, übermensch

Related Words

neanderthal, prehuman, troglodyte

Anagrams of subhuman