Link Centre Dictionary

humanitarian

hu·ma·ni·tarian

UK/hjʊˌmæ.nɪˈtɛː.ɹɪ.ən/ US/-ɛə.ɹi.ən/ fairly common
adjective (2) noun (1)

adjective

1.

marked by humanistic values and devotion to human welfare

  • “a humane physician”
  • “released the prisoner for humanitarian reasons”
  • “respect and humanistic regard for all members of our species”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

of or relating to or characteristic of humanitarianism

  • “humanitarian aid”

noun

1.

someone devoted to the promotion of human welfare and to social reforms

Synonyms

Origin

From humanity + -arian (suffix indicating an advocate of or believer in something), possibly modelled after Unitarian (“Christian who does not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity; pertaining to Unitarianism”) (see noun sense 2 and verb sense 2).

Phrases

  • humanitarian corridor
  • humanitarian crisis
  • humanitarian intervention
  • international humanitarian law

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.