From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Humanity \Hu*man"i*ty\, noun; 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) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: 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}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
26 Moby Thesaurus words for "humanities": academic specialty, area, classical education, core curriculum, course, course of study, curriculum, discipline, elective, field, general education, general studies, liberal arts, major, minor, proseminar, quadrivium, refresher course, scientific education, seminar, specialty, study, subdiscipline, subject, technical education, trivium
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