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

Aside from the dehumanizing nature of it all, the senators worry enterprising gamblers might one day set fires — or interfere with first responders — in an effort to improve their odds. — Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 19 Aug. 2026

There’s only damage and dehumanizing and perpetuating racial tropes. — Angela Andaloro, PEOPLE, 14 Aug. 2026

By suggesting that Black women would willingly place their own children in mortal danger for profit, such narratives provided yet another means of humiliating, degrading and dehumanizing African Americans. — The Conversation, 11 Aug. 2026

Yet somehow, two decades later, the viciously antisemitic Vichy regime planted itself in power; a shocking betrayal by France of some of its most loyal and generous supporters, in a dehumanizing toxic swamp of suspicion, judgment, envy. — Literary Hub, 17 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for dehumanizing

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