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humanitarian

humanitarian

284 4.2
Caring about people in need and helping them
  • adjective
  • /ˌhjuːməˈnɛtɛriən/
translation icon : humanitario
  • After the earthquake, many countries offered humanitarian aid to help the affected communities rebuild.
  • humanitarian aid
  • humanitarian law
  • humanitarian intervention

And yet they are somehow the humanitarian side of this argument.

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Examples

  • Speaker, a humanitarian disaster is now taking place in Yemen.

  • And all the while, the humanitarian crisis in Somalia continues to deepen.

    Academic text (2011)
  • But like, you know, you see the humanitarian crisis, you see that this has to stop.

  • The group's stated goal was to find solutions to human suffering through humanitarian programs.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Right now, the humanitarian sector has two main funding mechanisms.

  • The mayor has declared a humanitarian crisis and has appealed to the United Nations for help.

  • Well, the Great War caused an enormous refugee and humanitarian crisis in many areas of the world.

  • The American people have a real humanitarian interest in not letting another Holocaust occur.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Like many people who get involved with humanitarian projects, Abdolian's reasons were personal.

    Academic text (2011)
  • President Obama in his speech yesterday cited humanitarian grounds for intervention in Libya.

Synonyms

compassionate
vshumanitarian
151 3.7

Feeling concern and care for people who suffer

aims at broader welfare promotion and social reform beyond feeling
humane
vshumanitarian
90 3.4

Showing kindness and care to people or animals to avoid suffering

focuses more on promoting wide welfare and social change
philanthropic
vshumanitarian
20 6.8

Wanting to help people by giving money to those in need

includes social reform and welfare promotion beyond mainly donating aid

Antonyms

458 1.0

Caring only about yourself and not about other people

inhumane
  • NSFW
37 5.9

Very cruel and causing pain to people or animals

How Compassionate

altruistic
23 6.7
humanitarian
284 4.2
philanthropic
20 6.8
benevolent
53 5.1
charitable
150 3.4

Surface Forms

humanitarian positive

Morphology

humanitarian = human (semi-transparent) = human + itarian

The word clearly contains 'human', but the suffixal meaning is specialized, so the full sense is only partly predictable.

Etymology

The word humanitarian comes from the root human meaning 'human' or 'people', as in human or humane, and the ending -arian meaning 'related to' or 'a person who'. So to be humanitarian is to show care and give help to people in need.