man·kind

(măn′kīnd′)

1. The human race; humankind. See Usage Note at man.

2. Men as opposed to women.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mankind

(ˌmænˈkaɪnd)

1. human beings collectively; humanity

2. men collectively, as opposed to womankind

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

man•kind

(ˈmænˈkaɪnd for 1; ˈmænˌkaɪnd for 2 )

n.

1. human beings collectively without reference to sex; humankind.

2. men as distinguished from women.

[1250–1300]

usage: See man.

Mankind

See Also: HELPLESSNESS, LIFE, PEOPLE

As the clay is in the potter’s hand, to fashion at his pleasure: so man is in the hand of Him that made him —The Holy Bible/Apocrypha
Every man is like his affliction —André Malraux
Extraordinary men, like the stones that are formed in the highest regions of the air, fall upon the earth only to be broken and cast into the furnace —Walter Savage Landor
He [man] bolts down all events, all creeds, and beliefs, and persuasions … as an ostrich of potent digestion gobbles down bullets and gun flints —Herman Melville
Human as a kiss —Vance Thompson
Human beings are like timid punctuation marks sprinkled among the incomprehensible sentences of life —Jean Giraudoux
Humanity is like people packed in an automobile which is traveling down the highway without lights on a dark night at terrific speed and driven by a four-year old —Lord Dunsany
It is with men as with horses; those who do the most prancing make the least progress —Baron de Stassart
See Also: SUCCESS
Like leaves on trees, the race of man is found, now green in youth, now withering on the ground —Homer
Like the hours in the day, people come in two classes: the happy and the sad —Bin Ramke
Like the irresponsible black waterbugs on summer ponds, they [people in cities] crawl and circle and hustle about idiotically, without aim or purpose —O. Henry
Man … cometh up, and is cut down, like a flower —The Book of Common Prayer
Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman, a rope over an abyss —Friedrich Nietzsche
Man is as full of potentiality as he is of impotence —George Santayana
Man is like a ball tossed betwixt the wind and the billows —Friedrich von Schiller
A man is like a letter of the alphabet: to produce a word, it must combine with another —Benjamin Mandelstamm
A man is like all earth’s fruit, you preserve him dry or pickled —Hayden Carruth
Man is like a musical box. An imperceptible jolt, and he plays a different tune —Ludwig Boerne
Man is like a precious stone: cut and polished by morals, adorned by wisdom —Isaac Halevi Satanov
Mankind is like the Red Sea: the staff has scarcely parted the waves asunder, before they flow together again —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
A man like a watch is to be valued for his goings —Turkish proverb
Man’s like a bird all the days of his breath, and pleasures are nets that allure him to death —Judah Al-Harizi
Man’s like a candle in a candlestick made up tallow, and a little wick —John Bunyan
Men are like bricks, alike but placed high or low by chance —John Webster
Men are like ciphers: they acquire their value merely from their position —Napoleon Bonaparte
Men are like ears of corn: the emptier the head the more and the lower they stoop —Moritz Gottlieb Saphir
Men are like nuts; you can’t tell what they’re like till they’re broken —Phyllis Bottome
This simile marks the opening of Bottome’s story, A Lost Leader.
Men are like plants; the goodness and flavor of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow —Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur
Men are like the herbs of the field; while some are sprouting, others are withering —Babylonian Talmud
Men are like strange dogs … walk right up to them, bold as life, and they’re as gentle as ducks —Owen Johnson
Men are like the stars: some generate their own light while others reflect the brilliance they receive —José Marti
Men are like trees … each one must put forth the leaf that is created in him —Henry Ward Beecher
Men are like weasels: weasels drag and lay up and know not for whom, and men save and hoard and know not for whom —Talmud
Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay —Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Others are to us like the ‘characters’ in fiction, eternal and incorrigible —Mary McCarthy
People are like planks of wood: soft until seasoned —St. John De Chevecoeur
People are mostly layers of violence and tenderness, wrapped like bulbs —Eudora Welty
People are somewhat like novels, we operate on beginnings, middles, and ends —Charles Johnson
In Johnson’s novel, Faith and the Good Thing, the simile includes this parenthetical comment: “Don’t make too much of that simile.”
People are very much like flagstaffs. Some flagstaffs are very tall and prominent and some are small —Harry Emerson Fosdick
Fosdick’s simile continued with the following observation: “But the glory of a flagstaff is not its size but the colors that it flies. A very small flagstaff flying the right colors is far more valuable than a very tall one with the wrong flag.”
The race of men is like the race of leaves. As one generation flourishes another decays —Homer
Some individuals are like a brush heap, a helter-skelter, miscellaneous pile of twigs and branches —Harry Emerson Fosdick
Some men are like Einstein’s theory of relativity; nobody at home understands them —Anon
Some men are like pyramids, which are very broad where they touch the ground, but grow narrow as they reach the sky —Henry Ward Beecher
Some men are like rifles with plenty of powder but no bullet … a great flow of language but no thought —Sylvanys Stall
See Also: TALKATIVENESS
So much of a man walks about dead … like a pianoforte with half the notes mute —D. H. Lawrence
Strong men are made by opposition; like kites they go up against the wind —Frank Harris, Reader’s Digest, June, 1936
The study of human nature is a good deal like the study of dissection: you find out a good many curious things, but it is a nasty job after all —Josh Billings
Billings wrote this in dialect which read as follows: “The studdy ov huymin natur is a gooddeal like the studdy ov dessekshun, yu finde out a good menny curis things, aut it is nasty job after awl.”
To the gods we are as flies to wanton boys —William Shakespeare
We are all like vessels tossed on the bottom of the deep —Pietro Mestastasio
The simile continues: “Our passions are the winds that sweep us impetuously onward; each pleasure is a rock; the whole of life is a wide ocean.”
We are like sun that rises and sheds light upon things, and then falls and leaves them in darkness again —William Goyen
We run to and fro upon the earth like frightened sheep —Robert Louis Stevenson
What a piece of work is a man! In action, how like an angel! In apprehension, how like a god! —William Shakespeare

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

mankind - all of the living human inhabitants of the earth; "all the world loves a lover"; "she always used `humankind' because `mankind' seemed to slight the women"

human beings, human race, humankind, humans, humanity, world, man

group, grouping - any number of entities (members) considered as a unit

human, human being, man - any living or extinct member of the family Hominidae characterized by superior intelligence, articulate speech, and erect carriage

people - (plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively; "old people"; "there were at least 200 people in the audience"

mankind

noun people, man, humanity, human race, humankind, Homo sapiens the evolution of mankind

Quotations
"I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am" [Dr. Johnson]
"Mankind have been created for the sake of one another. Either instruct them, therefore, or endure them" [Marcus Aurelius Meditations]

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

mankind

noun

The human race:

earth, flesh, Homo sapiens, humanity, humankind, man, universe, world.

Translations

الإنْسانِيَّهبَشَرِيَة

lidstvo

menneskehedmenneskeheden

Menschheit

ανθρωπότητα

humanidad género humano

ihmiskunta

humanité genre

ljudski rod

emberiségférfiak

mannkyn

umanità umanit...

人類

인류

mensheid

menneskeheten

rodzaj ludzki ludzkość

humanidade

человечество

človeštvo

mänskligheten

มนุษยชาติ

insanlık

nhân loại

人类

mankind

[mænˈkaɪnd] N → humanidad f, género m humano

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

mankind

[mænˈkaɪnd] n → humanité f

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

mankind

n → die Menschheit

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

mankind

[mænˈkaɪnd] n → l'umanità f inv, il genere m umano

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

man

(mӕn) – plural men (men) – noun

1. an adult male human being. Hundreds of men, women and children; a four-man team.

2. human beings taken as a whole; the human race. the development of man.

3. obviously masculine male person. He's independent, tough, strong, brave – a real man!

4. a word sometimes used in speaking informally or giving commands to someone. Get on with your work, man, and stop complaining!

5. an ordinary soldier, who is not an officer. officers and men.

6. a piece used in playing chess or draughts. I took three of his men in one move.

verb – past tense, past participle manned –

to supply with men (especially soldiers). The colonel manned the guns with soldiers from our regiment.

-man (-mən) , (-mӕn) a person (formerly usually used for either sex; currently, often replaced by -person when the person referred to can be of either sex) who performs a particular activity, as in postman, *milkman, *chairman

etc.

ˈmanhood noun

1. (of a male) the state of being adult, physically (and mentally) mature etc. He died before he reached manhood.

2. manly qualities. He took her refusal to marry him as an insult to his manhood.

manˈkind noun

the human race as a whole. He worked for the benefit of all mankind.

ˈmanly adjective

having the qualities thought desirable in a man, ie strength, determination, courage etc. He is strong and manly.

ˈmanliness noun

manned adjective

supplied with men. a manned spacecraft.

ˈman-eating adjective

which will eat people. a man-eating tiger.

ˈman-eater noun

manˈhandle verb

1. to move, carry etc by hand. When the crane broke down, they had to manhandle the crates on to the boat.

2. to treat roughly. You'll break all the china if you manhandle it like that!

ˈmanhole noun

a hole (usually in the middle of a road or pavement) through which someone may go to inspect sewers etc.

ˌman-ˈmade adjective

made, happening or formed by man, not by natural means. a man-made lake.

ˈmanpower noun

the number of people available for employment etc. There's a shortage of manpower in the building industry.

ˈmanservant – plural ˈmenservants – noun

a male servant (especially one employed as a valet). He has only one manservant.

ˈmansize(d) adjective

of a size suitable for a man; large. a mansized breakfast.

ˈmanslaughter noun

the crime of killing someone, without intending to do so. He was found guilty of manslaughter.

ˈmenfolk noun plural

male people, especially male relatives. The wives accompanied their menfolk.

ˈmenswear (ˈmenz-) noun

clothing for men. Do you sell menswear?

as one man

simultaneously; together. They rose as one man to applaud his speech.

the man in the street

the ordinary, typical, average man. The man in the street often has little interest in politics.

man of letters

a writer and/or scholar. Shakespeare was perhaps Britain's greatest man of letters.

man of the world

a sophisticated man who is not likely to be shocked or surprised by most things. You can speak freely – we're all men of the world.

man to man as one man to another; openly or frankly: They talked man to man about their problems; adjective (etc)

a man-to-man discussion.

to a man

every one, without exception. They voted to a man to accept the proposal.

mankind

→ بَشَرِيَة lidstvo menneskeheden Menschheit ανθρωπότητα género humano ihmiskunta humanité ljudski rod umanità 人類 인류 mensheid menneskeheten rodzaj ludzki humanidade человечество mänskligheten มนุษยชาติ insanlık nhân loại 人类