Inhumane means cruel and lacking compassion in a way that ignores basic kindness and decency. When someone treats a person or animal in an inhumane way, they're causing unnecessary suffering and treating them more like objects than living beings who can feel pain and fear.

Keeping a dog chained outside in freezing weather with no shelter is inhumane. Making prisoners live in filthy, overcrowded conditions is inhumane. Forcing workers to labor for endless hours without breaks or rest is inhumane treatment. The word points to behavior that falls below the basic standards of how people should treat each other and other living creatures.

Inhumane is closely related to inhuman, but there's a subtle difference. Something inhuman might be so cruel or strange it seems almost nonhuman, like a monster in a story. Inhumane specifically means failing to show the compassion and mercy that humans are capable of showing. It's a condemnation because it suggests someone is choosing to ignore the kindness they could offer.

When reformers fight against inhumane conditions in prisons, hospitals, or farms, they're working to ensure that all living beings receive treatment that recognizes their capacity to suffer and their basic dignity. The opposite of inhumane is humane, which describes treatment that is compassionate, kind, and respectful of life.