as in brute
having or showing the nature and appetites of a lower animal
years of grinding poverty that had reduced them to a subhuman existence
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of subhuman
Yet today’s LLMs are distinctly subhuman in their ability to absorb and understand large quantities of information.
—
Ars Technica, 20 Dec. 2024
Cinematographers Alejandro Chávez and Trevor Roach shoot the underworld where the victims work and live with limited light sources creating a drab, oppressive environment that highlight the subhuman conditions they are subjected to.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 30 Aug. 2024
So, yeah, there are Muslim terrorists, but they are also shown as people with lives and interests and not subhuman villains, which, umm, could’ve been worse.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 16 Mar. 2024
Others, including Gali, say the term took on a darker tone that denigrates Native women, relegating them to a subhuman stature.
—Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for subhuman
Ars Technica, 20 Dec. 2024
Cinematographers Alejandro Chávez and Trevor Roach shoot the underworld where the victims work and live with limited light sources creating a drab, oppressive environment that highlight the subhuman conditions they are subjected to.
—Carlos Aguilar, Variety, 30 Aug. 2024
So, yeah, there are Muslim terrorists, but they are also shown as people with lives and interests and not subhuman villains, which, umm, could’ve been worse.
—Jesse David Fox, Vulture, 16 Mar. 2024
Others, including Gali, say the term took on a darker tone that denigrates Native women, relegating them to a subhuman stature.
—Melissa Gomez, Los Angeles Times, 30 Jan. 2024
See All Example Sentences for subhuman
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subhuman
Adjective
-
However, kindness possesses its own power, exerting a force more enduring than brute strength.—
Jennifer Boulanger,
New York Daily News,
28 June 2025
-
Instead of overpowering her adversaries with brute strength, Eve is taught to get creative and utilize whatever is around her— including ice skates, pots and pans — as weapons to defend herself.—
Jan Wagner,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
21 June 2025
Adjective
-
Each of the disciples have their own secrets to bear, life taking them on some brutal pathways, the piece leaning into powerful introspection.—
David John Chávez,
Mercury News,
28 June 2025
-
Just over a decade had passed since the end of the brutal twelve-year-long conflict, and street protests often ended in violence.—
Graciela Mochkofsky,
New Yorker,
28 June 2025
Adjective
-
Domestic cat breeds that roam the streets without a home or owner are considered feral cats.—
Stephen Underwood,
Hartford Courant,
29 June 2025
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Work also needs to be done to remove invasive species—like feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park, for example.—
Sarah Kuta,
Smithsonian Magazine,
5 June 2025
Adjective
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Despite bestial brutality and life-limiting economic and social injustices made legal—some existing still—our foreparents clung fiercely to their humanity and envisioned ours.—
Essence,
Essence,
25 June 2025
-
Fitzgerald used these wealthy, African Americans described in bestial terms, as a point of humor and as a way of showing how the place his protagonist found himself in was outlandish and preposterous to the point that Black men could be wealthy enough to hire a white driver.—
Kyra Davis Lurie
June 11,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Subhuman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subhuman. Accessed 13 Jul. 2025.
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