sub·hu·man
ˌsəb-ˈhyü-mən 
-ˈyü-
: less than human: such as
a
: failing to attain the level (as of morality or intelligence) associated with normal human beings
b
: unsuitable to or unfit for human beings
subhuman living conditions
c
: of or relating to a taxonomic group lower than that of humans
the subhuman primates
: a subhuman being
Synonyms
Examples of subhuman in a Sentence
Adjective
The prisoners suffered subhuman treatment.
years of grinding poverty that had reduced them to a subhuman existence
Recent Examples on the Web
Katherine Stewart, The New Republic, 10 Aug. 2023
Many Black migrants are pushed to the fringes of border cities to wait in subhuman conditions.
—Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2023
At the same time, a loop seemed to start playing in my mind, with hundreds of voices from my past telling me that transgender people were subhuman.
—Lara Americo, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2020
Even more a part of this notion is the assumption that journalists, reporters, and editors are subhuman and expected to be on the periphery of the human experience.
—Sara Li, Teen Vogue, 6 Mar. 2020
But did Americans really need to hear these words to know that Trump considers immigrants and brown people to be subhuman?
—Catherine Rampell, The Denver Post, 22 July 2019
Derogatory language — where protesters term officers dogs and gangsters, and police call demonstrators subhuman and cockroaches — has become a hallmark of Hong Kong’s protests as clashes have escalated.
—Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2019
All around her, in the heart of Hollywood, people were living in subhuman conditions, sprawled beside storefronts and at bus stops.
—Steve Lopezcolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2019
Not long after Hefzur Rahman enrolled at his new school in Michigan three years ago, his fifth-grade class studied the subhuman conditions that enslaved Africans endured in overcrowded ships bound for North America.
—Miriam Jordan, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2019
Jasper Lo, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2023
And the seriousness is an important part of the story, which, in large part, is about magic-wielding people who have been enslaved and are viewed as subhuman so that the populace is okay with using them like tools to support the kingdom.
—Andrew Webster, The Verge, 22 June 2023
In Italian architect Massimo Adario’s room, Murano glass figurines produced in the 1920s and depicting racist caricatures of Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous people as subhuman were placed on display in an incongruously chic vitrine, with no readily accessible context.
—Camille Okhio, ELLE Decor, 1 May 2023
Whatever its form, the human future portends to be more grim than Gramsci imagined, as the great powers already seem prepared to preside over the mass culling of human populations in the planet’s increasingly uninhabitable zones—the subaltern downgraded to the subhuman.
—Thomas Meaney, The New Republic, 30 Mar. 2022
Not as superhuman or subhuman; just as human.
—Isabella Cueto, STAT, 28 Mar. 2022
Uncivilized, animalistic, subhuman.
—Chloe Angyal, Marie Claire, 22 Apr. 2021
Since then, each subsequent disaster has unveiled another facet of the social safety net’s inadequacies as stories about Puerto Rico’s elderly living in subhuman conditions become frequent segments of local newscasts and tabloids.
—Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2023
Before the judge formally sentenced Cruz in November, victims’ families spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman who deserves a painful death.
—Freida Frisaro, Sun Sentinel, 19 Jan. 2023
See More
Adjective
The subhuman invaders, as Raspail describes them, wallow in their own feces and delight in trampling over the misguided liberals who thought to welcome and feed them.
—Katherine Stewart, The New Republic, 10 Aug. 2023
Many Black migrants are pushed to the fringes of border cities to wait in subhuman conditions.
—Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2023
At the same time, a loop seemed to start playing in my mind, with hundreds of voices from my past telling me that transgender people were subhuman.
—Lara Americo, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2020
Even more a part of this notion is the assumption that journalists, reporters, and editors are subhuman and expected to be on the periphery of the human experience.
—Sara Li, Teen Vogue, 6 Mar. 2020
But did Americans really need to hear these words to know that Trump considers immigrants and brown people to be subhuman?
—Catherine Rampell, The Denver Post, 22 July 2019
Derogatory language — where protesters term officers dogs and gangsters, and police call demonstrators subhuman and cockroaches — has become a hallmark of Hong Kong’s protests as clashes have escalated.
—Washington Post, 4 Nov. 2019
All around her, in the heart of Hollywood, people were living in subhuman conditions, sprawled beside storefronts and at bus stops.
—Steve Lopezcolumnist, Los Angeles Times, 4 Oct. 2019
Not long after Hefzur Rahman enrolled at his new school in Michigan three years ago, his fifth-grade class studied the subhuman conditions that enslaved Africans endured in overcrowded ships bound for North America.
—Miriam Jordan, New York Times, 22 Sep. 2019
Noun
The brawl, which Ah Sahm wins handily, is the kind of thing that a nonwhite person fantasizes about after being treated as subhuman—a kick-ass solution to a miasmic attack.
—Jasper Lo, The New Yorker, 12 Sep. 2023
And the seriousness is an important part of the story, which, in large part, is about magic-wielding people who have been enslaved and are viewed as subhuman so that the populace is okay with using them like tools to support the kingdom.
—Andrew Webster, The Verge, 22 June 2023
In Italian architect Massimo Adario’s room, Murano glass figurines produced in the 1920s and depicting racist caricatures of Black, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Indigenous people as subhuman were placed on display in an incongruously chic vitrine, with no readily accessible context.
—Camille Okhio, ELLE Decor, 1 May 2023
Whatever its form, the human future portends to be more grim than Gramsci imagined, as the great powers already seem prepared to preside over the mass culling of human populations in the planet’s increasingly uninhabitable zones—the subaltern downgraded to the subhuman.
—Thomas Meaney, The New Republic, 30 Mar. 2022
Not as superhuman or subhuman; just as human.
—Isabella Cueto, STAT, 28 Mar. 2022
Uncivilized, animalistic, subhuman.
—Chloe Angyal, Marie Claire, 22 Apr. 2021
Since then, each subsequent disaster has unveiled another facet of the social safety net’s inadequacies as stories about Puerto Rico’s elderly living in subhuman conditions become frequent segments of local newscasts and tabloids.
—Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 13 Jan. 2023
Before the judge formally sentenced Cruz in November, victims’ families spent two days berating him as evil, a coward, a monster and a subhuman who deserves a painful death.
—Freida Frisaro, Sun Sentinel, 19 Jan. 2023
See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'subhuman.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Dictionary Entries Near subhuman
Cite this Entry
“Subhuman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/subhuman. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.
Copy Citation
Medical Definition
subhuman
adjective
sub·hu·man
ˌsəb-ˈhyü-mən, ˈsəb-, -ˈyü-
: of or relating to a taxonomic group lower than that of humans
the subhuman primates
subhuman
noun
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share