Neanderthals

noun

plural of Neanderthal
1
as in losers
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 barbarians
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

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for Neanderthals
  1. losers
  2. barbarians
  3. lumps
  4. troglodytes
  5. hulks
  6. animals
  7. idiots
  8. cavemen
Noun
  • The winners and the losers Like any economic policy, tariffs won’t benefit all parties.
    — Allison Morrow, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2026
  • Payouts for the runner-up and semifinal losers have also declined relative to the overall purse in the past decade.
    — Lev Akabas, Sportico.com, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of losers
Noun
  • The world drew heavily from the paintings of fantasy illustrator Frank Frazetta, who depicted scenes of barbarians and beasts in conflict, of pulp fiction heroes, femme fatales, and fierce warrior women.
    — Steve Appleford, SPIN, 29 June 2026
  • To an outsider, the scene may spark a certain Schadenfreude, like an army of tiny barbarians sacking Rome.
    — Burkhard Bilger, New Yorker, 29 June 2026
Definition of barbarians
Noun
  • Combine flour, ground almonds, sugar, lemon zest, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a large bowl and whisk to blend evenly so there are no lumps of sugar.
    — Amy Drew Thompson, The Orlando Sentinel, 19 Aug. 2026
  • Kuyper was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s lymphoma earlier this year after noticing unusual symptoms and lumps on her neck and breast.
    — Natasha Dye, PEOPLE, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of lumps
Noun
  • Many wonders made the list, including royal burial grounds in Egypt, an Indonesian archipelago of 1,500 islands and Turkish cliffs formerly inhabited by Bronze Age troglodytes (cave dwellers).
    — John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 24 Oct. 2025
Definition of troglodytes
Noun
  • 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 hulks
Noun
  • People constantly move throughout the space cleaning out cages and checking on any sick animals.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 18 Aug. 2026
  • Visitors have been asked to report anyone putting themselves or the animals at risk to police.
    — Lianne Kolirin, CNN Money, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of animals
Noun
  • That's the continous nonsense these idiots provide to a website like OutKick.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Tallahassee lawmakers must think their constituents are idiots.
    — Letters to the Editor, The Orlando Sentinel, 1 Aug. 2026
Definition of idiots
Noun
  • The findings add to a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals — our closest extinct human relatives — were cognitively and psychologically more similar to modern humans than previously thought, rather than the simple-minded, brutish cavemen of earlier stereotypes.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 13 May 2026
  • The strip explored the life of a group of cavemen and their anthropomorphic animals and dinosaurs in prehistoric times, and has been in production for nearly 70 years, currently managed by Hart’s family.
    — Arushi Jacob, Variety, 2 Apr. 2026
Definition of cavemen
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.

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Neanderthal
Neanderthals
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Cite this Entry

“Neanderthals.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Neanderthals. Accessed 24 Aug. 2026.

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