Hu‐man″i‐ty (?), n.; pl.Humanities (#). [L. humanitas: cf. F. humanité. See Human.] 1. The quality of being human; the peculiar nature of man, by which he is distinguished from other beings.
2. Mankind collectively; the human race.
But hearing oftentimes
The still, and music humanity. Wordsworth.
It is a debt we owe to humanity. S. S. Smith.
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.
4. Mental cultivation; liberal education; instruction in classical and polite literature.
Polished with humanity and the study of witty science. Holland.
5. pl. (With definite article) The branches of polite or elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the ancient classics; belles-letters.
☞ The cultivation of the languages, literature, history, and archæology of Greece and Rome, were very commonly called literæ humaniores, or, in English, the humanities,... by way of opposition to the literæ divinæ, or divinity. G. P. Marsh.