hominin
noun
hom·i·nin
ˈhä-mə-nən 
-ˌnin
: any of a taxonomic tribe (Hominini) of hominids that includes recent humans together with extinct ancestral and related forms
Examples of hominin in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
To date, the earliest evidence of hominins making fire has been much more recent—from only 50,000 years ago.
—
Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 10 Dec. 2025
But more recent discoveries of older hominins that likely walked upright have suggested that Lucy was not the earliest human ancestor, although most still think her species was ancestral to our own lineage.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Dec. 2025
Much of what is known about human evolution and early hominins comes from skulls, but the fossils are often damaged or deformed.
—Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2025
But the researchers proposed that the lineage that led to our species peeled off from the other hominin lineages hundreds of thousands of years earlier — possibly more than a million years ago.
—Reuters, NBC news, 26 Sep. 2025
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Meghan Bartels, Scientific American, 10 Dec. 2025
But more recent discoveries of older hominins that likely walked upright have suggested that Lucy was not the earliest human ancestor, although most still think her species was ancestral to our own lineage.
—Katie Hunt, CNN Money, 8 Dec. 2025
Much of what is known about human evolution and early hominins comes from skulls, but the fossils are often damaged or deformed.
—Julia Jacobo, ABC News, 26 Sep. 2025
But the researchers proposed that the lineage that led to our species peeled off from the other hominin lineages hundreds of thousands of years earlier — possibly more than a million years ago.
—Reuters, NBC news, 26 Sep. 2025
See All Example Sentences for hominin
Cite this Entry
“Hominin.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hominin. Accessed 20 Dec. 2025.
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