dehumanizing

adjective

de·​hu·​man·​iz·​ing (ˌ)dē-ˈ(h)yü-mə-ˌnī-ziŋ 

: depriving someone of human qualities, personality, or dignity : demeaning or damaging to a person's humanity or individuality

a dehumanizing caricature/slur

dehumanizing statistics

Before even being allowed to call a lawyer, the arrestee is faced with the dehumanizing treatment of a strip search …

—John W. Whitehead

This kind of language is deliberately dehumanizing: the athlete is referred to not as a person but as a "brand", throughout.

—Felix Salmon

Inmates at the South Carolina prison cited dehumanizing conditions such as a lack of sunlight, poor and insufficient food, and few rehabilitative programs as reasons they lost hope.

—Aaron Cantú

Not only are writers selling their products, they essentially become their products: author as commodity. It's a weirdly dehumanizing experience.

—Rachel Donadio

… the dehumanizing nastiness of having your intimate personal photos hacked …

—Joe Fay

Examples of dehumanizing in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

It is rooted in the dehumanizing language and convenient fictions that precede acts of violence. —Brad Braxton, Chicago Tribune, 1 Sep. 2025

Comments and actions like these are, frankly, dehumanizing and racist. —Danielle Nierenberg, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2025

To them, the phrase conveyed the precious shreds of humanity that survive the dehumanizing effects of the internet. —Kyle Chayka, New Yorker, 27 Aug. 2025

After propagating a dehumanizing lie that Haitian immigrants in Ohio eat pets, President Donald Trump terminated Temporary Protected Status for around half a million Haitian refugees, with no plan in place for their U.S. citizen children. —Jose Antonio Vargas, Time, 4 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dehumanizing

• actualizing
• antagonizing
• apologising
• apologizing
• capitalizing
• categorizing
• characterizing
• commercializing
• conceptualizing
• criminalizing
• decentralizing
• decolorizing