Neanderthal Definition

nē-ăndər-thôl, -tôl, nā-ändər-täl
noun
A Neanderthal human being.
Webster's New World
An individual belonging to this species.
American Heritage
A person regarded as crude, primitive, reactionary, etc.
Webster's New World

A specimen of the now extinct species Homo neanderthalensis.

Wiktionary
A species of extinct hominins (Homo neanderthalensis) that lived throughout most of Europe and western and central Asia during the late Pleistocene Epoch until about 30,000 years ago. Members of this species had a large skull and stocky build and are associated with Middle Paleolithic tools.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
adjective
Of, having to do with, or resembling Neanderthals.
American Heritage
Designating or of a widespread form of early human being (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) of the Upper Pleistocene.
Webster's New World
Crude or primitive.
Webster's New World
Reactionary; regressive.
Webster's New World
Of or pertaining to Homines neanderthalenses.
The capacity of the Neanderthal skull was 10% larger than that of modern humans.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Neanderthal

Noun

Singular:
Neanderthal
Plural:
neanderthals

Origin of Neanderthal

  • From the name of the German valley where Neanderthal 1 was discovered in 1856. The Düsseltal (from German Düssel, a small tributary of the River Rhine + tal (“valley")) itself was renamed (from Das Gesteins (“The Rockiness") and/or Das Hundsklipp (“The Cliff of Dogs")) in the early 19th century to Neandershöhle (“Neander's Hollow"), and again in 1850 to Neanderthal (“Neander Valley"); both names were in honour of the German Calvinist theologian and hymn writer Joachim Neander (1650-1680). The surname Neander is a Romanisation of the Greek translation of the original German surname Neumann (“New man"), for which reason Homo neanderthalensis is sometimes called New man in English.

    From Wiktionary

  • After Neanderthal (Neandertal), a valley of western Germany near Düsseldorf where remains of these humans were found in 1856

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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