adj.

1. Characterized by kindness, mercy, or compassion: a humane judge.
2. Marked by an emphasis on humanistic values and concerns: a humane education.

[Middle English humain, human. See human.]

humanely hu·mane'ly adv.
humaneness hu·mane'ness n.

SYNONYMS  humane, compassionate, humanitarian, merciful. These adjectives mean marked or motivated by concern with the alleviation of suffering: a humane physician; compassionate toward impoverished people; released the prisoner for humanitarian reasons; is merciful to the repentant.

adjective

Concerned with human welfare and the alleviation of suffering: charitable, compassionate, human, humanitarian, merciful. See attitude/good attitude/bad attitude/neutral attitude, kind/cruel.

adj

Definition: kind, compassionate
Antonyms: cruel, fierce, inhumane, merciless, uncivilized, uncompassionate, unkind, unsympathetic, violent

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Pertaining to the avoidance of infliction of pain, discomfort and harassment; used especially with regard to animals.

• h. considerations — subjects which need to be taken into account by persons who have animals in their care, e.g. freedom from disease, from hunger, water deprivation, exploitation while performing.
• h. destruction — see euthanasia (2).
• h. killer — a firearm for fast euthanasia of animals of all types. The classical instrument, the Greenough humane killer, can be taken apart and stowed in a small space. The instruments are gunmetal tubes with a firing pin and a sloping head to ensure that the projectile enters at the correct angle. The projectile may be a captive bolt that protrudes about 1 inch when the weapon is fired with a blank shell. The alternative is a standard rifle shell which is fired in the normal way.
• h. societies — voluntary organizations that carry out a valuable public service by watching for abuses of the laws that protect animals against cruelty, and by promoting relevant educational programs.
• h. twitch — a twitch in which a slipknot is fastened over the lower jaw and the rope is passed back, through a ring in a surcingle, back along the other side of the neck and into the slipknot loop. Pulling on the rope pulls the head into the chest. Called also martingale twitch.

IN BRIEF: Compassionate.

We are healthy only to the extent that our ideas are humane. — Kurt Vonnegut

Tutor's tip: Treat "human" (a person) life and animal life in a "humane" (kind, compassionate) manner.

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - human, humanistisk, menneskekærlig

Nederlands (Dutch)
menselijk, menswaardig, menslievend

Français (French)
adj. - d'humanité, sans cruauté, classique (une éducation, des études) (arch)

Deutsch (German)
adj. - human, humanistisch

Ελληνική (Greek)
adj. - ανθρωπιστικός, φιλάνθρωπος, ανθρώπινος, με ανθρώπινα αισθήματα

Italiano (Italian)
umano, umanitario

Português (Portuguese)
adj. - humanitário

Русский (Russian)
человечный, гуманитарный

Español (Spanish)
adj. - humano, humanitario

Svenska (Swedish)
adj. - human, mänsklig, barmhärtig, humanistisk

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
有人情的, 仁慈的, 人道的

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 有人情的, 仁慈的, 人道的

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 자비로운, 우아한, 인정이 있는

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 人道にかなった, 人を高尚にする, 優雅な, 人情のある

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(صفه) انساني, شغوف, عطوف, انساني معني يالنسان وثمرات عقله‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮אנושי, הומני, טוב-לב, עדין, נדיב, נוטה לתרבת או להעניק עידון (תחום לימוד)‬

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humane society