\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.
2. Mankind collectively; the human race.
         But hearing oftentimes The still, and music
         humanity.                             --Wordsworth.
         It is a debt we owe to humanity.      --S. S. Smith.
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.
4. Mental cultivation; liberal education; instruction in
   classical and polite literature.
         Polished with humanity and the study of witty
         science.                              --Holland.
5. pl. (With definite article) The branches of polite or
   elegant learning; as language, rhetoric, poetry, and the
   ancient classics; belles-letters.
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.