How to Use Neanderthal in a Sentence

Neanderthal

noun
Definition of Neanderthalnext
Synonyms for Neanderthalnext
  • I can't believe I was married to that Neanderthal for three years.
  • Some Neanderthals continue to resist the education reform bill.
  • The team selected two carrion crows, two collared doves, and a wood pigeon–similar species to what Neanderthals might have eaten.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 24 July 2024
  • In some cases, Neanderthals could be as much as half a foot shorter than Cro-Magnons.
    — Sara Novak, Discover Magazine, 28 Dec. 2023
  • The list includes Shanidar 1, a middle-aged male Neanderthal discovered in a cave of Iraq.
    — Bridget Alex, Discover Magazine, 6 June 2024
  • That points to Neanderthals not harvesting crabs with nets, which would have caught a wider range of animals.
    — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 22 Feb. 2023
  • At some point, a Neanderthal with a sharpened, wooden spear stepped forward to strike the fatal blow – or at least wound the lion severely.
    — Matt Hrodey, Discover Magazine, 2 Nov. 2023
  • An analysis of an inner ear fossil from a young Neanderthal discovered in Spain suggests the child may have had Down syndrome.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2024
  • Even in death, there are no sexed differences in how Neanderthals or modern humans buried their dead, or the goods affiliated with their graves.
    — Sarah Lacy, Discover Magazine, 27 Nov. 2023
  • Previously, only humans and Neanderthals have been known to bury their dead.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 June 2023
  • Since the Neanderthal discovery, the start date for human prehistory has been pushed farther and farther back.
    — Maya Jasanoff, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024
  • The discovery means the two groups, who once interbred and left most humans alive today with traces of Neanderthal DNA, may have overlapped for several thousand years.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN, 1 Feb. 2024
  • For example, there is a body of work that examines how Neanderthals likely prepared larger game.
    — Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 24 July 2024
  • Schmidt said that Neanderthals were already known to have made an adhesive from birch tar, which involved several steps to produce from tree bark by distillation.
    — Katie Hunt, CNN, 21 Feb. 2024
  • This all led the scientists to concludes that the most important genetic risk factor for Dupuytren’s disease is the lingering role of Neanderthal ancestry.
    — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 27 July 2023
  • Audiences learned to link modern art to prehistory and inquire about Neanderthal DNA.
    — Stefanos Geroulanos, Twin Cities, 10 Apr. 2024
  • Bones of cave lions from thousands of years ago indicate that Neanderthals may have been capable of hunting the large predators, and that our relatives may have used the hides for cultural purposes.
    — Will Sullivan, Smithsonian Magazine, 16 Oct. 2023
  • Yet Neanderthals living in warm, wet environs had tooth-wear patterns similar to those of agricultural peoples who eat lots of fibrous plants.
    — Manvir Singh, The New Yorker, 25 Sep. 2023
  • Life New evidence shows Neanderthals got ‘surfer’s ear’ Our relationship with water still matters.
    — Big Think, 24 June 2024
  • Enlarge / Artist's depiction of Neanderthals after taking down a lion.
    — Eric Berger, Ars Technica, 18 Oct. 2023
  • Perhaps their aversion to new mates ultimately pushed Neanderthals from endangered to extinct.
    — Bridget Alex, Discover Magazine, 6 June 2024
  • In addition to hunting cave lions, creating art, cooking crabs, and potentially being the ultimate morning people, Neanderthals in what is now Europe also used their own kind of glue.
    — Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 21 Feb. 2024
  • If the evolving tool technologies, mirroring each other in Europe and the Near East, do evidence a second wave of human migration, the idea could have implications for our theories about how Neanderthals adapted to the arrival of humans.
    — Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 May 2023
  • The site could indicate how Neanderthals may have been more caring and emotionally intelligent than previously thought.
    — Jonathan Limehouse, USA TODAY, 2 May 2024
  • As a 2023 New Yorker article detailing the carnivore craze pointed out, however, studies of Neanderthals have turned up evidence that their diets included dates, tubers and other leafy foods in addition to meat.
    — Steven Kurutz Steven Kurutz, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2024
  • This suggests Neanderthals knew larger crabs provided more sustenance.
    — Mac Stone, Discover Magazine, 20 Feb. 2023
  • Modern humans had already settled in northwest Europe thousands of years before Neanderthals vanished forever in the southwest of the continent, according to the results of a recent excavation in Ranis, Germany.
    — Catherine Duncan, Smithsonian Magazine, 2 Feb. 2024
  • The word Neanderthal is sometimes used as a synonym for stupid or brutish, but a new fossil analysis has added weight to the hypothesis that our prehistoric cousins actually had collaborative or even compassionate qualities.
    — Frances Vinall The Washington Post, arkansasonline.com, 7 July 2024
  • Increasing evidence shows that intermingling once occurred among various hominids—Neanderthals, modern humans, Denisovans, and maybe others—tens of thousands of years ago.
    — Byelizabeth Pennisi, science.org, 1 June 2023
  • Excavations there uncovered multiple Mousterian residences, indicating Neanderthals may have visited both places.
    — Brendan Rascius, Miami Herald, 20 June 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Neanderthal.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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