humanity
noun
hu·man·i·ty
hyü-ˈma-nə-tē 
yü-
plural humanities
1
: compassionate, sympathetic, or generous behavior or disposition : the quality or state of being humane
… bespeaking humanity for the enemy in the midst of a bloody struggle.—
C. G. Bowers
C. G. Bowers2
3
humanities plural
: the branches of learning (such as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human constructs (see construct entry 2 sense 1a) and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics)
4
: the totality of human beings : the human race : humankind
… a fierce compassion for the woes of humanity.—Maurice Bowra
Maurice BowraExamples of humanity in a Sentence
We appealed to his sense of humanity.
These discoveries will be of benefit to all humanity.
She was cut off from the rest of humanity.
the college of arts and humanities
He's taking courses in both the sciences and the humanities.
Recent Examples on the Web
This film represents rural Punjab with a gaze rarely seen, one that centralizes humanity and desire.
—Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 28 Apr. 2026
Altman pitched the conversion as critical to securing the vast amount of funding OpenAI needs to fulfill its mission of creating artificial general intelligence — or AGI — that will benefit humanity.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 27 Apr. 2026
The case centers on Musk’s claim that OpenAI, Altman and Microsoft betrayed OpenAI's original mission as a nonprofit to benefit humanity by forming a for-profit entity in March 2019, 13 months after Musk left the OpenAI board.
—Deepa Seetharaman, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2026
OpenAI, now valued at nearly $1 trillion following the success of ChatGPT, was established in 2015 as a charity dedicated to benefiting humanity.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 27 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for humanity
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 28 Apr. 2026
Altman pitched the conversion as critical to securing the vast amount of funding OpenAI needs to fulfill its mission of creating artificial general intelligence — or AGI — that will benefit humanity.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 27 Apr. 2026
The case centers on Musk’s claim that OpenAI, Altman and Microsoft betrayed OpenAI's original mission as a nonprofit to benefit humanity by forming a for-profit entity in March 2019, 13 months after Musk left the OpenAI board.
—Deepa Seetharaman, USA Today, 27 Apr. 2026
OpenAI, now valued at nearly $1 trillion following the success of ChatGPT, was established in 2015 as a charity dedicated to benefiting humanity.
—Brittney Melton, NPR, 27 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for humanity
Cite this Entry
“Humanity.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/humanity. Accessed 29 Apr. 2026.
Copy CitationKids Definition
humanity
noun
hu·man·i·ty
hyü-ˈman-ət-ē
yü-
plural humanities
1
: the quality or state of being human or of being humane
2
plural
: studies (as literature, history, and art) concerned primarily with human culture
3
: the whole collection of human beings both past and present
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
