1
as in losers
a big clumsy often slow-witted person
they looked like a tribe of Neanderthals compared to the bridegroom's patrician-looking family
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in barbarians
a man with crude manners and habits and outmoded attitudes
made the mistake of dining with some Neanderthal who repeatedly mistook his shirtsleeve for a napkin
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for Neanderthals
Noun
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But while growth trends are improving, Apple has been grappling with skyrocketing costs for key components like memory chips and a volatile macro backdrop driven by the war in Iran and advances in AI that have minted stock market winners and losers.—
Bloomberg,
Mercury News,
30 Apr. 2026 -
Meanwhile, a little over two-thirds of all players were net losers, functionally transferring their funds directly to the tiny cabal of predictive gurus.—
Joe Wilkins,
Futurism,
30 Apr. 2026
Noun
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In most academic histories of European imperialism written in this century, the Europeans are the barbarians, killing and raping and looting on an unprecedented scale.—
David A. Bell,
The New York Review of Books,
19 Mar. 2026
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And if any of you barbarians out there slather ranch dressing on your wings, there’s a special place in hell just for you.—
Bill Reinhard,
New York Daily News,
5 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Remember, some lumps are preferred for the loftiest results.—
Katie Rosenhouse,
Southern Living,
26 Apr. 2026
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But the lumps weren’t caused by poor hygiene or weight.—
Xitlalic Montelongo,
Miami Herald,
23 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Many wonders made the list, including royal burial grounds in Egypt, an Indonesian archipelago of 1,500 islands and Turkish cliffs formerly inhabited by Bronze Age troglodytes (cave dwellers).—
John Metcalfe,
Mercury News,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Another provision allows pharmacists to provide ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug often prescribed for animals, over-the-counter for adults without a prescription.—
CBS Miami Team,
CBS News,
28 Apr. 2026
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Mosaic tiles will be added to the animals depicted in and along the river, according to the proposal.—
Jennifer Johnson,
Chicago Tribune,
28 Apr. 2026
Noun
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Doesn’t matter to all the freakin’ idiots who dress up like Santa.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
17 Apr. 2026
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Payment processors aren’t idiots, and a huge number of new charges was likely to arouse suspicion.—
Nate Anderson,
ArsTechnica,
13 Apr. 2026
Noun
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The strip explored the life of a group of cavemen and their anthropomorphic animals and dinosaurs in prehistoric times, and has been in production for nearly 70 years, currently managed by Hart’s family.—
Arushi Jacob,
Variety,
2 Apr. 2026
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Then language itself breaks apart into letters and sounds, grunted like cavemen incanting around a campfire.—
Theater Critic,
San Francisco Chronicle,
15 Nov. 2024
Noun
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There are complicated brain-chemistry factors involved that have to do with testosterone, and dopaminergic systems, and kappa-opioid receptors, all of which seem to add up to a Jim Gaffigan joke about how men are morons compared with their wives.—
McKay Coppins,
The Atlantic,
12 Mar. 2026
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The Dilbert principle — traced back to a quote in a 1995 strip — posited that managers and higher-ups are actually successful morons whose stubbornness is confused for real leadership qualities.—
Jon Blistein,
Rolling Stone,
13 Jan. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Neanderthals.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/Neanderthals. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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