as in to poison
to make (someone) feel or behave more like an animal than a human being
six months of solitary living in the jungle would animalize anyone
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Recent Examples of animalize
Sociologist Anthony Cortese found that in popular culture black women are often othered, animalized and exoticized, associating women of color with primitivity or wild sexuality.
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Katie Edwards, Washington Post, 14 July 2017
Katie Edwards, Washington Post, 14 July 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for animalize
Verb
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This creates unavoidable and intolerable conflicts of interest that poison the competitive dynamics that healthy markets require.—
Asad Ramzanali,
Time,
6 Oct. 2025
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Hogan initially denied poisoning her estranged husband, according to police, but later changed her story.—
Mike Stunson,
Miami Herald,
6 Oct. 2025
Verb
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An Italian activist who was part of the Gaza aid flotilla and subsequently detained by Israel has described allegations of being mistreated and humiliated while in Israeli custody, with little access to legal assistance.—
Catherine Nicholls,
CNN Money,
6 Oct. 2025
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Even its most mean-spirited plotline, in which a married couple assemble a fake theater production to humiliate their ex-neighbor whose noisiness prompted them to move, is presented as more of a gentle exercise in silliness than anything truly vindictive.—
Christian Zilko,
IndieWire,
3 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Relief and health workers say these other methods of delivering food in Gaza, including the GHF sites and aid pallet drops from planes, are dehumanizing and inaccessible for many Palestinians, and expose them to injury or death.—
Soph Warnes,
CNN Money,
2 Oct. 2025
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Some of these deportation efforts have been purposefully dehumanizing, like the opening of Alligator Alcatraz.—
William D. Lopez,
Time,
29 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Brock Lesnar's Road to WrestleMania The Beast brutalized Cena this past Saturday night and defeated him with relative ease after hitting six consecutive F-5's.—
Andrew Ravens,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Sep. 2025
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Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli and Gabe Kidd brutalized Ospreay, targeting the neck which he was set to have surgery on.—
Ryan Gaydos,
FOXNews.com,
25 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 13 Oct. 2025.
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