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 individuals and groups committing these acts are subhuman.
—
Bobby Zirkin, Baltimore Sun, 24 Feb. 2025
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
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
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Josh Jacobs ran with brute force on high volume.—
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There’s not much on 1 IN A MILLION that will blow you away; the beats are of the same unmiraculous mold—Michigan brute force meets Louisiana jig—that has been holding down Florida street rap for the last half-decade, and the lyrics rarely jump off the page on their own.—
Adjective
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Between wading or boating into choppy surf, baking in the hot sun, and getting doused in salty spray, the elements are brutal on the human body and the gear meant to withstand them.—
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Phạm Lockwood also spoke with Huan Nguyen, the sole survivor of a massacre of a South Vietnamese family in Saigon, a brutal attack allegedly orchestrated by Capt.—
Adjective
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To start with the movie’s strongest asset, Fiennes is magnificent — sinewy and feral in appearance but erudite in manner, his isolation and years of living rough having done little to curb the magniloquence of a posh education.—
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In 1998, Herrington heard an interview, on NPR, with Rick Varner, who hunted feral hogs for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.—
Adjective
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Some deep bestial neurological structures fired inappropriately and stoked within her an instinct of brute survival.—
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Channels the inner, bestial urges to release an unworldly howl that pushes back any nearby enemies.—
Cite this Entry
“Subhuman.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/subhuman. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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