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.
—
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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The Brit List script, which treads the line between black comedy and drama, is set in the early 20th Century Hungary where a village knitting club takes it upon themselves to poison their abusive husbands with arsenic.—
Diana Lodderhose,
Deadline,
6 Nov. 2025
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People who are rude or unaware with receptionists can poison your culture, create unnecessary hierarchies, and drive your best people to leave.—
Jessica Neal,
CNBC,
5 Nov. 2025
Verb
-
Strummer was humiliated by the whole album.—
Rob Sheffield,
Rolling Stone,
9 Nov. 2025
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The Heat’s next two games comes against a Cavaliers team that humiliated Miami out of the first round of the playoffs last season.—
Anthony Chiang,
Miami Herald,
8 Nov. 2025
Verb
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The torture, abuse, and dehumanizing conditions these characters experience make this show a hard watch, especially as lawmakers continue to police and chip away at women’s reproductive rights at the federal and local level.—
Taryn Finley,
Refinery29,
7 Nov. 2025
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The guy’s ghosting of me also dehumanized him.—
Anna Holmes,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Art the Clown likes brutalizing women.—
Alison Foreman,
IndieWire,
7 Nov. 2025
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He was fired a few years later over allegations of brutalizing a suspect in custody.—
Omar Jimenez,
CNN Money,
26 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 12 Nov. 2025.
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