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humanities |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Humanity \Hu*man"i*ty\, n.; pl {Humanities}. [L. humanitas: cf F. humanit['e]. See {Human}.] 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) 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[ae]ology of Greece and Rome, were very commonly called liter[ae] humaniores or in English, the humanities, . . . by way of opposition to the liter[ae] divin[ae], or divinity. --G. P. Marsh. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: humanities n : studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills); "the college of arts and sciences" [syn: {humanistic discipline}, {liberal arts}, {arts}]
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