Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various extinct primates, especially an early hominin.
  • adjective Of or relating to these extinct primates.
  • adjective Of or relating to a period preceding settlement by humans.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Occurring or existing before the appearance of man upon the earth; pertaining to times antecedent to human existence.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Preceding the advent of modern humanity, Homo sapiens
  • noun One of the human-like creatures prior to Homo sapiens.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

pre- +‎ human

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Examples

  • Scientists in South Africa announced a hoard of fossil finds documenting a puzzling forerunner to modern mankind belonging to the prehuman species Australopithecus Sediba that lived nearly two million years ago.

    Fossil Trove Sheds Light On a Stage of Evolution Robert Lee Hotz 2011

  • Decade of Discoveries 2001: Three previously unknown prehuman species arev discovered in Africa, dating back almost six million years.

    Fossil Trove Sheds Light On a Stage of Evolution Robert Lee Hotz 2011

  • Magisterial in its learning and admirably immodest in its ambition, the book traces the history of political organization and principle from "prehuman times" up to the period of the French Revolution.

    From Dynasty to Democracy David Gress 2011

  • Our prehuman ancestors didn't say much, but they had a rich and subtle vocabulary of gestures, shrugs and frowns.

    Hands and Faces Spoke Long Before Our Tongues Matt Ridley 2011

  • To the researchers' surprise, the primitive creature's pelvis was "the most human-like" ever discovered among a prehuman species, Dr. Berger said.

    Fossil Trove Sheds Light On a Stage of Evolution Robert Lee Hotz 2011

  • The Dancer is a "clever little prehuman statue," she learns, which was discovered on an uninhabited planet by the hapless crew of a space freighter and has been wreaking havoc ever since.

    January 15th, 2009 m_francis 2009

  • The new finds all belong to a prehuman species of that time called Australopithecus sediba , discovered in 2008.

    Fossil Trove Sheds Light On a Stage of Evolution Robert Lee Hotz 2011

  • It looks as if our prehuman ancestors had only a modest vocabulary of shouts, screams and whines, but a richer and subtler vocabulary of gestures, shrugs and frowns.

    Hands and Faces Spoke Long Before Our Tongues Matt Ridley 2011

  • Associated Press Head of prehuman species, Australopithecus sediba, was found in 2008.

    New Face in Human Family Tree Robert Lee Hotz 2010

  • Associated Press Head of prehuman species, Australopithecus sediba, was found in 2008.

    New Face in Human Family Tree Robert Lee Hotz 2010

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