inhuman or inhumane? These are both words of condemnation: inhuman is, however, a considerably stronger one than inhumane. Inhumane means ‘lacking compassion or kindness’ (inhumane treatment of animals). To describe someone's treatment of animals or other people as inhuman, however, suggests that it is deliberately cruel or shockingly neglectful and shows none of the qualities that are desirable in a human being: inhuman torture of prisoners