Humanities

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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     2. Mankind collectively; the human race.
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              But hearing oftentimes
              The still, and music humanity.        --Wordsworth.
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              It is a debt we owe to humanity.      --S. S. Smith.
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     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.
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     4. Mental cultivation; liberal education; instruction in
        classical and polite literature.
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              Polished with humanity and the study of witty
              science.                              --Holland.
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     5. pl. (With definite article) The branches of polite or
        elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the
        ancient classics; belles-letters.
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     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.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [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}]

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