Definition

1. Noun:
   • A person assumed to have been raised by apes: A fictional or legendary human character who is believed to have been nurtured and brought up by apes in the wild.
   • A hypothetical organism formerly thought to be intermediate between apes and human beings: A theoretical creature, often discussed in historical or popular contexts of evolutionary science, imagined as a missing link in human ancestry.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The legend tells of an ape-man living deep in the jungle.
  • Early evolutionary theories sometimes speculated about the existence of an ape-man.

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in historical contexts to describe outdated scientific concepts about human evolution.
• It appears frequently in adventure fiction and film to describe a feral human character.

Variants and Related Words

• Missing link (n): A hypothetical extinct creature halfway in the evolutionary chain between humans and apes.
• Caveman (n): A prehistoric human, often depicted as primitive, but not specifically raised by apes.
• Feral child (n): A human child who has lived isolated from human contact from a very young age.

Synonyms

• Wild man
• Primitive human (in a historical scientific context)

Related Idioms

• To be a throwback: To resemble or suggest a primitive ancestor.
  • His aggressive behavior was seen as a throwback to an ape-man.

Noun

1. a person assumed to have been raised by apes
2. hypothetical organism formerly thought to be intermediate between apes and human beings