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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Recent Examples of subhuman
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.
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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
See all Example Sentences for subhuman 
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
See all Example Sentences for subhuman
Recent Examples of Synonyms for subhuman
Adjective
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But college football has changed to a game of speed and skill rather than a game of brute force.Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel, 14 Dec. 2024
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Her acuity gives equal weight and immediacy to both the intangible reality of human relationships (the social hierarchies among children in a cancer ward, say) and the brute force of physical experience.Molly Fischer, The New Yorker, 4 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Thousands of prisoners have now been freed, many after decades of incarceration in brutal conditions.Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, 13 Dec. 2024
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Winter's brutal grip is continuing Friday for millions across the eastern U.S. as temperatures remain well below average.Doyle Rice, USA TODAY, 13 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Many feral cats rely on food scraps, garbage, or deliberate feeding by well-meaning individuals, which buffers them from natural selection pressures like starvation.Scott Travers, Forbes, 30 Nov. 2024
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Borisov artfully underplays the progression: He’s taken aback by her feral resistance, amused by her spirit, then really sees her.Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times, 26 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Eggers certainly loves the guy, and Skarsgård’s ultra-committed performance allows the film to enjoy a contagious pleasure in returning the vampire archetype to its more bestial origins.David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 2 Dec. 2024
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The rape/bestial fetish is framed as a fantasy imagined by a woman, curiously beginning as an assault.Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 31 July 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near subhuman
Cite this Entry
“Subhuman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subhuman. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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