Neanderthals

noun

plural of Neanderthal
1
as in losers
a big clumsy often slow-witted person they looked like a tribe of Neanderthals compared to the bridegroom's patrician-looking family

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in barbarians
a man with crude manners and habits and outmoded attitudes made the mistake of dining with some Neanderthal who repeatedly mistook his shirtsleeve for a napkin

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for Neanderthals
  1. losers
  2. barbarians
  3. lumps
  4. troglodytes
  5. hulks
  6. animals
  7. idiots
  8. cavemen
Noun
  • Those flights are popular with bargain hunters but can be money losers for airlines amid a spike in fuel prices.
    — Chris Isidore, CNN Money, 23 Oct. 2026
  • The losers will be SpaceX’s current shareholders that give up almost half their company for puny profits and big promises.
    — Shawn Tully, Fortune, 22 Oct. 2026
Definition of losers
Noun
  • In the absence of other forces, empires seldom succumb to a challenger or to barbarians at the gates.
    — NIALL FERGUSON, Foreign Affairs, 20 Oct. 2026
  • So that, zombie- or indeed mummy-like, the barbarians can mimic imperial subjects enough to look human.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of barbarians
Noun
  • Hopefully, Miami can begin to reap the benefits from the lumps that the trio of defensive linemen — Grant, Phillips and Biggers — received during their up-and-down rookie campaigns in 2025.
    — Miami Herald, Miami Herald, 15 Oct. 2026
  • Peet, who had been screened since her late 30s because of dense breast tissue and prior benign lumps, was treated with a lumpectomy and radiation and is now on tamoxifen.
    — Samantha Agate, Kansas City Star, 14 Oct. 2026
Definition of lumps
Noun
  • Many wonders made the list, including royal burial grounds in Egypt, an Indonesian archipelago of 1,500 islands and Turkish cliffs formerly inhabited by Bronze Age troglodytes (cave dwellers).
    — John Metcalfe, Mercury News, 24 Oct. 2025
Definition of troglodytes
Noun
  • Water levels on the Danube River, the second longest in Europe, have dropped so low because of drought that the hulks of dozens of World War II German battleships — and even the remains of an ancient woolly mammoth — are emerging into view.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 4 Aug. 2026
Definition of hulks
Noun
  • Historically, such spaces were often features of religious buildings around the world including monasteries and convents, keeping animals out and fresh water, herbs, vegetables, and flowers safely inside.
    — Michael James Gardner, Architectural Digest, 26 Oct. 2026
  • Autofocus has been upgraded too, and subject detection now recognizes birds as well as people and animals.
    — New Atlas, New Atlas, 26 Oct. 2026
Definition of animals
Noun
  • Eleven gullible idiots were talked into acquitting because of an imaginary female ailment.
    — Voice of the People, New York Daily News, 20 Sep. 2026
  • And then there’s the culture of the scientists, and these idiots can’t read Dickens.
    — David Brooks, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2026
Definition of idiots
Noun
  • The findings add to a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals — our closest extinct human relatives — were cognitively and psychologically more similar to modern humans than previously thought, rather than the simple-minded, brutish cavemen of earlier stereotypes.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 13 May 2026
  • The strip explored the life of a group of cavemen and their anthropomorphic animals and dinosaurs in prehistoric times, and has been in production for nearly 70 years, currently managed by Hart’s family.
    — Arushi Jacob, Variety, 2 Apr. 2026
Definition of cavemen
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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Cite this Entry

“Neanderthals.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Neanderthals. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.

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