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
  • However, sticking to the basics of fundamental analysis means that while the selection standard may be higher, the process of determining winners and losers is largely unchanged.
    — Zev Fima, CNBC, 30 Sep. 2026
  • Sportsbooks could do the same to losers who are digging deeper and deeper holes.
    — Jake Pearson, ProPublica, 26 Sep. 2026
Definition of losers
Noun
  • So that, zombie- or indeed mummy-like, the barbarians can mimic imperial subjects enough to look human.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
  • If OpenAI’s agents are Romans, humanity represents the barbarians.
    — Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 2 Sep. 2026
Definition of barbarians
Noun
  • The real estate sector is taking its lumps as Treasury yields surge, but Mizuho sees plenty of potential for two dividend-paying stocks in that corner of the market.
    — Darla Mercado, CFP®, CNBC, 25 Sep. 2026
  • Through two weeks of the Dallas Cowboys’ season, there are some lumps that the team’s defense has taken that have been reminiscent of the last two porous efforts on that side of the ball.
    — Nick Harris, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 24 Sep. 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
  • Drawing on a variety of sources—from philosophical treatises to poems and popular jokes—this compact study shows how writers of the Roman era rendered animals, domestic and wild, as imperial subjects.
    — The New Yorker, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Horse racing makes Heidi Sheridan nervous, worrying whether the animals will get hurt.
    — Robert McCoppin, Chicago Tribune, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of animals
Noun
  • Eleven gullible idiots were talked into acquitting because of an imaginary female ailment.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • And then there’s the culture of the scientists, and these idiots can’t read Dickens.
    — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 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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Cite this Entry

“Neanderthals.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Neanderthals. Accessed 5 Oct. 2026.

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