hominoid

noun

hom·​i·​noid ˈhä-mə-ˌnȯid 

: any of a superfamily (Hominoidea) of primates including recent hominids, gibbons, and pongids together with extinct ancestral and related forms (as of the genera Proconsul and Dryopithecus)

hominoid adjective

Examples of hominoid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Winged insects, precursors to dragonflies, first appeared about 400 million years ago, long before the earliest hominoid showed up between 2 and 6 million years ago. —Carl R. Gold, Baltimore Sun, 8 June 2025

Recent research has indicated that tool use may have very deep roots among hominoids—the group of primates that includes gorillas, chimpanzees, orangutans, gibbons, bonobos and humans. —Kevin Lynn, Newsweek, 6 Jan. 2025

Other studies found that environmental changes could have led to evolution because limited resources or changes in habitat may have forced early hominoids to move to more suitable climates or learn other ways to obtain food. —Discover Magazine, 29 Jan. 2024

Other researchers are converging upon a similar recalibration of mutational rates which might push back the time until the last common ancestor of many divergent hominoid and hominin lineages (including modern humans). —Razib Khan, Discover Magazine, 13 June 2011

Its enormous size—13 inches—also suggests a magnificent hominoid, a King Kong type of image! —National Geographic, 19 Aug. 2017

Word History

Etymology

New Latin Hominoidea, from Homin-, Homo + -oidea, suffix of higher taxa, from Latin -oïdes -oid entry 2

First Known Use

1949, in the meaning defined above

Medical Definition

hominoid

noun

hom·​i·​noid ˈhäm-ə-ˌnȯid 

: any member of the superfamily Hominoidea

also : an animal that resembles humans

hominoid adjective