Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Humanity \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.

Source : WordNet®

humanities
     n : studies intended to provide general knowledge and
         intellectual skills (rather than occupational or
         professional skills); "the college of arts and sciences"
         [syn: {humanistic discipline}, {liberal arts}, {arts}]