| 释义 |
sub-ˈhuman, a. (n.)
[sub- 14, 19.]
1. a. Not quite human, less than human; occas. almost or all but human.
1793J. Williams Calm Exam. 88 Perhaps the slumbers of Lord Thurlow are never broken by the..interposition of thought; if they are not, the man is extra or sub-human. 1894Pop. Sci. Monthly XLIV. 514 The mental operations of my subhuman dog. 1901Eng. Hist. Rev. July 425 To imagine not only a king who is almost super-human in his self-will, but also a clergy and a nation which are sub-human in their self-abasement.
b. as n. One who is less than human; a person of sub-human instincts.
1957R. Campbell Portugal iv. 62 This..moray..was fed chiefly on recalcitrant slaves..devoured before the gloating eyes of the subhuman who was its owner. 1970G. Jackson Let. in Soledad Brother (1971) 247 Would you like to know a subhuman... I'm not a very nice person{ddd}more kin to the cat than anything else, the big black one.
2. Belonging to or characteristic of the part of creation that is below the human race.
1837Beddoes Let. in Poems (1851) p. ci, What my thoughts..may be regarding things human, sub-human, and super-human. 1877Swinburne Note C. Brontë 90 The typical specimen which then emitted in one spasm of sub-human spite at once the snarl and the stench proper to its place and kind. 1894H. Drummond Ascent of Man 28 He turns his back upon Nature—sub-human Nature, that is.
Hence sub-huˈmanity, the quality of being sub-human, less than human existence; (rarely) a level of creation below the human race; sub-ˈhumanly adv., in a sub-human manner, bestially.
1909G. B. Shaw in Nation 28 Aug. 787/2 Mr. Chesterton..finally excogitates, as a proof of my superhumanity or sub-humanity, exactly the reason that would have been given by one of Wellington's private soldiers. 1929A. Huxley Do what You Will 75 They live..sub⁓humanly..they sink..towards a repulsive subhumanity. 1939J. Cary Mister Johnson 157 They have become a new kind of creature, a sort of subhumanity which can smile and eat and live at a level of corruption and misery which would kill a real human being. 1966‘H. MacDiarmid’ Company I've Kept ii. 50 As soon as you make allowances..then you are opening the floodgate for mediocrity and..you are submerged under a tide of subhumanity. 1970G. Greer Female Eunuch 262 Is it too much to ask that women be spared the daily struggle for superhuman beauty in order to offer it to the caresses of a subhumanly ugly mate? |