'Humanities' definitions:

Definition of 'humanities'

(from WordNet)
noun
Studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills (rather than occupational or professional skills); "the college of arts and sciences" [syn: humanistic discipline, humanities, liberal arts, arts]

Definition of 'Humanities'

From: GCIDE
  • Humanity \Hu*man"i*ty\, n.; pl. Humanities. [L. humanitas: cf. F. humanit['e]. See Human.]
  • 1. The quality of being human; the peculiar nature of man, by which he is distinguished from other beings. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Mankind collectively; the human race. [1913 Webster]
  • But hearing oftentimes The still, and music humanity. --Wordsworth. [1913 Webster]
  • It is a debt we owe to humanity. --S. S. Smith. [1913 Webster]
  • 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. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. Mental cultivation; liberal education; instruction in classical and polite literature. [1913 Webster]
  • Polished with humanity and the study of witty science. --Holland. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. pl. (With definite article) The branches of polite or elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the ancient classics; belles-letters. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: The cultivation of the languages, literature, history, and arch[ae]ology of Greece and Rome, were very commonly called liter[ae] humaniores, or, in English, the humanities, . . . by way of opposition to the liter[ae] divin[ae], or divinity. --G. P. Marsh. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'humanities'

From: Moby Thesaurus