ANTHROPOID

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does anthropoid mean? 

• ANTHROPOID (noun)
  The noun ANTHROPOID has 2 senses:

1. person who resembles a nonhuman primate

2. any member of the suborder Anthropoidea including monkeys and apes and hominids

  Familiarity information: ANTHROPOID used as a noun is rare.

• ANTHROPOID (adjective)
  The adjective ANTHROPOID has 2 senses:

1. resembling apes

2. resembling human beings

  Familiarity information: ANTHROPOID used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ANTHROPOID (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Person who resembles a nonhuman primate

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

anthropoid; ape

Hypernyms ("anthropoid" is a kind of...):

misfit (someone unable to adapt to their circumstances)

Derivation:

anthropoid; anthropoidal (resembling apes)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any member of the suborder Anthropoidea including monkeys and apes and hominids

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("anthropoid" is a kind of...):

primate (any placental mammal of the order Primates; has good eyesight and flexible hands and feet)

Derivation:

anthropoid (resembling human beings)

anthropoid; anthropoidal (resembling apes)

• ANTHROPOID (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Resembling apes

Synonyms:

anthropoid; anthropoidal; apelike

Similar:

nonhuman (not human; not belonging to or produced by or appropriate to human beings)

Derivation:

anthropoid (any member of the suborder Anthropoidea including monkeys and apes and hominids)

anthropoid (person who resembles a nonhuman primate)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Resembling human beings

Synonyms:

anthropoid; manlike

Similar:

human (having human form or attributes as opposed to those of animals or divine beings)

Derivation:

anthropoid (any member of the suborder Anthropoidea including monkeys and apes and hominids)

 Context examples 

Here and there a little group of shattered Indians marked where one of the anthropoids had turned to bay, and sold his life dearly.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Pan troglodytes, an anthropoid ape that inhabits the tropical rain forests of Africa and is used for experimental purposes because of its susceptibility to some human diseases and in behavioral studies because of its high level of intelligence.

(Chimpanzee, NCI Thesaurus)

In South America there are, if my memory serves me—you will check the observation, Professor Summerlee—some thirty-six species of monkeys, but the anthropoid ape is unknown.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I assure you that I little thought when I left my professional chair in London that it was for the purpose of heading a raid of savages upon a colony of anthropoid apes.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Next he touched upon the Indians, and upon the extraordinary colony of anthropoid apes, which might be looked upon as an advance upon the pithecanthropus of Java, and as coming therefore nearer than any known form to that hypothetical creation, the missing link.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is probable that there existed an anthropoid ape in South America, who in past ages found his way to this place, and that he developed into the creatures we have seen, some of which—here he looked hard at me—were of an appearance and shape which, if it had been accompanied by corresponding intelligence, would, I do not hesitate to say, have reflected credit upon any living race.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)