How to use humanitarian in a sentence

30 example sentences · adjective, noun

Humanitarian means relating to people's welfare. Example: “According to his legend, he once worked for the Red Cross, spreading humanitarian aid in Africa.”

Examples of humanitarian by meaning

adjectiveRelating to people's welfare.

There are three divisions into which the purposes of the hospital may be classed: Humanitarian, educational and scientific.1914 January 16, William Henry Welch, “Present Position of Medical Education, Its Development and Great Needs for the Future”, in Walter C....
The devastating effect of the violence is illustrated by the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe of the 1994 Rwandan genocide that caused deaths, homelessness, despair, poverty, political instability, and economic stagnation in this country.2007, Gabriel Andrew Msoka, “General Conclusion”, in Basic Human Rights and the Humanitarian Crises in Sub-Saharan Africa: Ethical...
Legal scholars and jurists have produced a wealth of material which explores whether armed humanitarian interventions are in line with international law and whether attacks on civilians or non-military targets breach international humanitarian law.2015, Jenny H. Peterson, “Introduction”, in Roger Mac Ginty, Jenny H. Peterson, editors, The Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action...

adjectiveBeing compassionate or humane.

John Fothergill, eighteenth century Quaker physician, was eminent in the practice of medicine, active in the religious Society of Friends, and prominent in the humanitarian and charitable philanthropies of his time.1980 September 13–14, K. Garth Huston, “Bibliographical Note”, in John Fothergill, Observations on the Recovery of a Man Dead in Appearance...

nounA person concerned with people's welfare; a do-gooder or philanthropist.

Their thoughts, wished out into form, make a fit place for the weaker multitude to live in and they are always the humanitarians, giving their life for the world.1929, Julia Seton, “Supra-consciousness: Sight—Hearing—Taste—Touch—Smell”, in The Short Cut—Regeneration through Fasting, 2nd edition...
And she took the time to lock the door behind her, even though she was rushing upstairs because she's such a humanitarian?2000 July 13, Lee Child [pseudonym; James Dover Grant], chapter 31, in Running Blind (A Jack Reacher Novel), New York, N.Y.: Jove Books...
My parents always affirmed that if you're able to love yourself, you're better able to love your community and those around you, regardless of their ethnicity or race, which makes it easier to be a true humanitarian.2015 February, Rashid Shabazz, “Rashid Shabazz”, in Ben Jealous, Trabian Shorters, editors, Reach: 40 Black Men Speak on Living, Leading...

More sentences with humanitarian

According to his legend, he once worked for the Red Cross, spreading humanitarian aid in Africa.From the entry legend
So, to what extent could cyberattacks count as perfidy and therefore be illegal given international humanitarian law?2012 June 5, Patrick Lin, Neil Rowe, Fritz Allhoff, “Is It Possible to Wage a Just Cyberwar?”, in The Atlantic. From the entry perfidy
These views put many Christians and humanitarians on one side and removalists on the other.2012, Donald L. Fixico, Landmarks of the American Mosaic: Bureau of Indian Affairs, page 47. From the entry removalist
But in some respects humanitarian intervention looks more like police work than war.2012, Ned Dobos, Insurrection and Intervention: The Two Faces of Sovereignty, Cambridge University Press, page 117. From the entry humanitarian intervention
For liberal humanitarianists, Somalia was significant but only one of many regional conflicts that had humanitarian concerns.2008, Eugene R. Wittkopf, James M. McCormick, The Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy, page 360. From the entry humanitarianist
Technocratical thinking has captured natural, technical and humanitarian sciences, by becoming the general tool of scientific knowledge.2000, Vladimir Petrovich Lukin, Wave propagation in the atmosphere and adaptive optics, page 6. From the entry technocratical
The U.S. rightly treats this “autogolpe” like an open military coup, suspending all but humanitarian assistance.1992 April 7, “Into the Fire in Peru”, in The New York Times, →ISSN. From the entry autogolpe
A notable aspect of Norwegians’ national identity is that they think of themselves as a ‘peace nation’ and a ‘humanitarian superpower’.2024 August 8, Kristian Bjørkdahl, “The humanitarian persona”, in National Identities. From the entry superpower
An imprisoned ex-president of Peru was released on humanitarian grounds on Dec. 6, stoking controversy in the Andean nation.2023, Marco Aquino, Sarah Morland, and Isabel Woodford (Reuters), Peruvians divided as ex-president, jailed for massacres, walks free, in…. From the entry Andean
We might ask finally whether humanitarian intervention even exists.2018, Noam Chomsky, Yugoslavia: Peace, War, and Dissolution, PM Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page…. From the entry Manchukuo
Hondas sound like cars designed by pacifists and humanitarian diplomats.2015, Paul Beatty, The Sellout, Oneworld Publications (2016), page 86. From the entry honda
Unfortunately, despite the massive humanitarian efforts of many Americans, New Orleans has not been deemed saveworthy by all.2013, Nickie D. Phillips, Staci Strobl, Comic Book Crime. From the entry saveworthy
Humanitarian operations will more often partake of compellence than deterrence.2009, Robert J. Art, Kenneth Neal Waltz, The Use of Force: Military Power and International Politics, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 431. From the entry compellence
Initially presented as a purely humanitarian mission, Operation Restore Hope gradually shifted from feeding Somalis to fighting them.1994 September 19, Mark Thompson, “Haiti: The Past As Prelude”, in Time. From the entry mission creep
"It is not possible to send a train load of humanitarian aid without a train load of bureaucracy to go with it.2022 April 20, Tony Streeter, Paul Clifton, “Relief train from the UK takes aid to Ukraine”, in RAIL, number 955, page 29. From the entry trainload
It is all too easy to demonstrate that virtually every resort to force is justified by elevated rhetoric about noble humanitarian intentions.2018, Noam Chomsky, Yugoslavia: Peace, War, and Dissolution, PM Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page…. From the entry Manchukuo
I have photographed destroyed homes, hospitals, funerals, humanitarian aid, empty markets and the daily lives of people returning to their neighborhoods during moment of reprieve.2014 August 6, James Estrin, quoting Wissam Nassar, “Photos From Both Sides of the Gaza Conflict”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.…. From the entry reprieve
Musk said he checked with Trump “a few times” and Trump confirmed he wants to shut down the agency, which dispenses billions in humanitarian aid and development funding annually.2025 February 2, Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt, “Senior USAID security officials put on leave after attempting to refuse Musk’s DOGE…. From the entry aid
The Foreign Assistance Act bars assistance to any country that “prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.”2024 April 11, Jennifer Hansler, “USAID administrator says it is ‘credible’ to assess famine is already occurring in parts of Gaza”, in CNN. From the entry prohibit
"We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal support and will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes," the joint statement said.2022 October 11, “G7 vows to support Ukraine for as long as it takes”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2022. From the entry stand with
Then two days before Wigilia, a German officer came to say that ‘Germans are humanitarians even towards criminals,’ so we could take part in the Christmas eve celebration.1945 January 24, Brenda Ueland, quoting the Polish Review, “What Goes on Here”, in Minneapolis Daily Times, volume 78, number 210…. From the entry Wigilia
The humanitarian, frequently ignoring hard reality, visualises one cosmopolitan community where justice and social sympathy measured in terms of some one set of units reign supreme.1921 October, Lynden Macassey, “Labour and the League of Nations […] [book reviews]”, in Harold Cox, editor, The Edinburgh Review, or…. From the entry visualize
Supplies and money poured in, to be directed, by airlifts and great humanitarian efforts by the U.N. and the Children’s Fund and the International Red Cross, to the empty bellies.1964, Proceedings of the International Congress of Nutrition, page 446. From the entry U.N.

Meaning of humanitarian

adjective Relating to people's welfare.
adjective Being compassionate or humane.
adjective Of or pertaining to the belief that Jesus Christ is fully human and not divine.

Full definition of humanitarian

Questions about humanitarian in a sentence

How do you use humanitarian in a sentence?: Humanitarian is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “According to his legend, he once worked for the Red Cross, spreading humanitarian aid in Africa.”
What is a short sentence with humanitarian?: “We might ask finally whether humanitarian intervention even exists.”
What does humanitarian mean?: Humanitarian means relating to people's welfare.

Adapted from Wiktionary: humanitarian (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use humanitarian in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/humanitarian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.