ANIMALIZE Synonyms: 33 Similar and Opposite Words

animalize

verb

ˈa-nə-mə-ˌlīz

Definition of animalize

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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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for animalize

Verb

The types of crimes weren’t spelled out, but imagine that a President, say, poisoned his estranged spouse and concealed the crime until after leaving the White House.

— Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 10 Aug. 2026
Aegon refuses, so instead his own supporters poison him with wine.

— James Grebey, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026

Definition of poison

Verb

After being publicly humiliated by Daemon Targaryen and lured to switch sides (with his dragon) to the Greens by Ormund Hightower, party animal Ulf is still drunk and MIA when the battle starts.

— Bryan Alexander, USA Today, 10 Aug. 2026
Each action can increase the pressure on the person being humiliated.

— Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 9 Aug. 2026

Definition of humiliate

Verb

LeFlouria tells the story from the perspectives of a number of Black women through history, centering the specific humanity of victims of a system that seeks to dehumanize.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026
Telling this story from a child’s perspective is a way of trying to revive empathy for people who are often dehumanized by the way they are portrayed.

— Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 3 Aug. 2026

Definition of dehumanize

Verb

Each competitor was giving it their all with brutalizing chops, tough suplexes and going above and beyond to try to win that championship.

— Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 15 July 2026
The same curriculum includes Prophet Muhammed’s history of brutalizing Christians and Jewish people — a framing that Muslim families and interfaith advocates found issue with in public comment.

— Rachel Royster. Produced with AI assistance, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9 July 2026

Definition of brutalize

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animality

animalize

animalized

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“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 14 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of animalize

verb

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