1 benevolent, compassionate.
2 inflicting the minimum of pain.
3 (of a branch of learning) tending to civilize or confer refinement.
Phrases and idioms:
humane killer an instrument for the painless slaughter of animals.
Derivatives:
humanely adv. humaneness n.
Etymology: var. of HUMAN, differentiated in sense in the 18th c.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.