WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Hu*man"i*ty
Part of Speech : n.;
Etymology : [L. humanitas: cf. F. humanit?. See Human.]
Definition : 1. The quality of being human; the peculiar nature of man, by which he is distinguished from other beings.

2. Mankind collectively; the human race. But hearing oftentimes The still, and music humanity. Wordsworth. It is a debt we owe to humanity. S. S. Smith.

3. The quality of being humane; the kind feelings, dispositions, and sympathies of man; especially, a disposition to relieve persons or animals in distress, and to treat all creatures with kindness and tenderness. "The common offices of humanity and friendship." Locke.

4. Mental cultivation; liberal education; instruction in classical and polite literature. Polished with humanity and the study of witty science. Holland.

5. pl. (With definite article)

Defn: The branches of polite or elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the ancient classics; belles-letters.

Note: The cultivation of the languages, literature, history, and arch?ology of Greece and Rome, were very commonly called liter? humaniores, or, in English, the humanities, . . . by way of opposition to the liter? divin?, or divinity. G. P. Marsh.

pl. Humanities.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913