Neanderthal 1 of 2

noun

nē-ˈan-dər-ˌtȯl How to pronounce Neanderthal (audio)
Definition of Neanderthalnext
1
as in hulk
a big clumsy often slow-witted person they looked like a tribe of Neanderthals compared to the bridegroom's patrician-looking family

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in barbarian
a man with crude manners and habits and outmoded attitudes made the mistake of dining with some Neanderthal who repeatedly mistook his shirtsleeve for a napkin

Synonyms & Similar Words

Neanderthal

2 of 2

adjective

variants or Neandertal
as in rude
not civilized her boyfriend's Neanderthal tastes and manners were often embarrassing

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of Neanderthal
Noun
This didn’t become common practice until a few hundred years ago, but at least one Neanderthal apparently figured it out and convinced someone to go along with it. — ArsTechnica, 13 May 2026 And all of those size differences are too small to have any effect on cognitive ability, so Neanderthals could easily be on par with our species there, too. — ArsTechnica, 28 Apr. 2026 One key piece of evidence comes from a 2008 study published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, which analyzed DNA extracted from Neanderthal remains found at the El Sidrón site in Spain. — Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 20 Apr. 2026 Archaeologists frequently find birch tar at Neanderthal archaeological sites, which comes from birch trees. — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 18 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for Neanderthal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for Neanderthal
  1. hulk
  2. barbarian
  3. rude
  4. lump
  5. animal
  6. savage
  7. loser
  8. caveman
Noun
  • Instead, fog clung to every nook and crevice of the glacial hulks surrounding us.
    — Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 24 Oct. 2026
  • Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low because of drought that the hulks of dozens of World War II German battleships — and even the remains of an ancient woolly mammoth — are emerging into view.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of hulk
Noun
  • Carved with a military scene of Roman soldiers trampling barbarians, the coffin was likely intended for a man.
    — Mindy Weisberger, CNN Money, 2 Nov. 2026
  • In the absence of other forces, empires seldom succumb to a challenger or to barbarians at the gates.
    — NIALL FERGUSON, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026
Definition of barbarian
Adjective
  • Rosie Campbell, Managing Director of Eleos AI Research, a nonprofit dedicated to understanding and addressing the potential well-being of AI, said that some other studies have even shown that rude questions can actually improve results.
    — Hadas Gold, CNN Money, 1 Nov. 2026
  • Others have seized on comments he’s made about the event, such as calling attendees rude or casting town halls as dangerous.
    — Kacen Bayless, Kansas City Star, 27 Oct. 2026
Definition of rude
Noun
  • The longer the sweet potatoes heat in the Dutch oven, the more the lumps will soften.
    — Candy Hom, AJC.com, 7 Nov. 2026
  • Her aunt, a breast cancer survivor, was the first person who encouraged her to get that initial lump checked.
    — Emily Cegielski, Flow Space, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of lump
Noun
  • Officials said a child may have come into contact with that animal.
    — Daniel Hunt, Sacbee.com, 3 Nov. 2026
  • Under the cover of night, Orwell’s pigs paint new words onto the side of the barn where the rules governing all the animals are listed.
    — Chris John Amorosino, Hartford Courant, 3 Nov. 2026
Definition of animal
Adjective
  • Reducing Gulliver’s Travels to only a topsy-turvy tale of humans both tiny and massive is to ignore the savage intellect that penned its words.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 28 Oct. 2026
  • In ancient, supposedly more savage times, public killings were common.
    — Dr. Michael Good, Hartford Courant, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of savage
Noun
  • Memory and chip firms SanDisk, Western Digital, AMD, Seagate and Micron were the index’s biggest losers, all plunging around 10%.
    — Steve Kopack, NBC news, 5 Nov. 2026
  • Counting among the biggest losers on Election Day was Elon Musk, who is currently facing a lawsuit over allegations that the gas turbines at his Colossus data center in Memphis, Tennessee, are emitting pollution.
    — Ashley Belanger, ArsTechnica, 4 Nov. 2026
Definition of loser
Noun
  • The challenge was to figure out what exactly appeared on the caveman food pyramid.
    — David Merritt Johns, The Atlantic, 27 June 2026
  • There’s a lyric where reporters are wondering why Mullally’s Vera Vim, a fading actress, bought a caveman.
    — Christopher Borrelli, Chicago Tribune, 25 June 2026
Definition of caveman

Browse Nearby Words

ne'er-do-wells
Neanderthal
Neanderthals
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Cite this Entry

“Neanderthal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Neanderthal. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on Neanderthal

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about Neanderthal

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