humanitarian
Noun pluralhumanitarians
Pluralhumanitarians
- 1Relating to people's welfare, especially efforts to relieve suffering and meet basic human needs.
International agencies coordinated a massive humanitarian response after the earthquake.
The ceasefire allowed humanitarian corridors to open for civilians trapped in the city.
Note
This is the word as a label for a field of work: a humanitarian organization or purpose is classified, not praised. William Henry Welch, writing on medical education in 1914, sorted a hospital's purposes into humanitarian, educational and scientific, the first meaning the care of the sick. The word joins humanity to -arian, the suffix for an advocate of something. When it praises a person's kindness, it has moved to the "compassionate" meaning.
- 2Compassionate or humane; showing kindness and concern for the well-being of others.
Her humanitarian instincts led her to shelter refugees long before any official program existed.
The general was praised for the humanitarian treatment of his prisoners.
Similarhumane, compassionate, benevolent, charitable, philanthropic
- 3A person concerned with the welfare of others; a philanthropist or do-gooder.
As a lifelong humanitarian, she spent her retirement organizing medical missions abroad.
Humanitarians from a dozen countries gathered to plan the relief effort.
Similarphilanthropist, altruist, benefactor
Oppositemisanthrope
Note
Usually a term of praise: John S. Thrasher in 1856 pairs Las Casas and Wilberforce as the humanitarians of their centuries. Because the word also carries the shade of do-gooder, it turns sarcastic easily. In Lee Child's Running Blind (2000), "because she's such a humanitarian?" mocks a claim of selflessness. Tone and context decide which way it cuts, so take care when applying it to someone directly.
- 4Relating to humanism, the intellectual outlook centered on human values, reason, and potential.
Nineteenth-century critics admired the movement's humanitarian outlook, grounded in reason rather than revelation.
The lecture traced the humanitarian philosophy that flourished among Renaissance scholars.
Similarhumanist
Note
A nineteenth-century philosophical usage, now historical. Joachim Kaspary's Natural Laws (1876) speaks of "Humanitarian philosophers" who learn from natural law which thoughts and actions are rewarded and which corrected. In that sense the word stands where humanist stands today. For the modern outlook, write humanist; keep humanitarian in this sense for describing or quoting older writing, where readers may otherwise take it to mean charity.
- 5A believer in the philosophy of humanism; an older synonym of humanist.
As a confirmed humanitarian, he held that morality needed no divine foundation.
The society's founders were humanitarians who placed humanity at the center of their ethics.
Similarhumanist
Note
Kaspary's Humanitarians define themselves against rivals on every side, rejecting "Pagan delusions," "Sceptical doubts" and "Atheistical selfishness" alike, and devote their lives to making "a real paradise upon earth." The noun shares the history of the older "humanist" adjective. For someone who holds humanist views today, the word to use is humanist.
Less common meanings
- 6Relating to the teaching that denies the divinity of Jesus Christ and regards him as wholly human.
The sect's humanitarian doctrine held that Christ was a man uniquely inspired by God but not divine.
[Y]ou muſt have recourſe to pretty ſtrong figure to reconcile that belief to humanitarian tenets, from this beautiful and ſublime chapter.
1793, F[rancis] Randolph, Scriptural Revision of Socinian Arguments VindicatedNote
A theologian's term from the 1790s, when Benjamin Hobhouse and Francis Randolph traded replies over Socinian arguments and "humanitarian tenets" meant holding to the simple humanity of Christ. The -arian ending may echo Unitarian, the movement where the view was argued. The sense is now rare, and a modern reader hears the welfare meaning first, so in writing about doctrine it needs enough context not to be misread.
- 7Someone who denies that Jesus Christ was divine, holding that he was entirely a human being.
As a humanitarian, she revered Jesus as a moral teacher while denying his divinity.
But it will be demanded, how happened it that Irenæus, the pupil of that Polycarp who is repreſented to have been a Humanitarian, ſhould become a zealous advocate for the Deity of Chriſt?
[1792], Benjamin Hobhouse, A Reply to the Rev. F[rancis] Randolph’s Letter to the Rev. Dr. [Joseph] PriestleyNote
In nineteenth-century theology the noun marked one position among several. The Spirit of the Pilgrims in 1829 says most Unitarians are humanitarians, denying even Christ's preexistence, and an 1841 review places Charles Spear neither among Trinitarians nor Humanitarians but on the "Superangelic scheme." Like other party names, it was often capitalized. The sense is rare now, displaced by the philanthropist.
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Practice
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Origin
Formed from 'humanity' plus the suffix '-arian', which marks an advocate of or believer in something, possibly modelled on the word 'Unitarian'.