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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Robert Josh Grossman read through several pages of text messages between him and Kouri Richins, who is accused of poisoning her husband with a fatal dose of fentanyl.—
Minyvonne Burke,
NBC news,
5 Mar. 2026
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Condors vanished from the state’s North Coast after the arrival of European settlers, who killed other animals with lead bullets and strychnine — poisoning the raptors that feed on carrion.—
Lila Seidman,
Los Angeles Times,
5 Mar. 2026
Verb
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But no one here is out to humiliate anyone, which is nasty and unkind and not at all the sort of humor Lawrence trades in.—
Television Critic,
Los Angeles Times,
8 Mar. 2026
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Walz and Ellison were humiliated and could not account for their blundering.—
Joe Soucheray,
Twin Cities,
7 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The answer is not to dehumanize us.—
Bill Whitaker,
CBS News,
2 Mar. 2026
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To fall in love with a chatbot or rely on it for friendship — to me that’s a pretty good definition of dehumanizing.—
Nick Hilden,
Rolling Stone,
24 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Ayatollah Khamenei led a regime that brutalized its own people, launched attacks around the world for almost 40 years.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
1 Mar. 2026
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Please join me in praying for US service members, our allies, and the innocent Iranian population that has been brutalized for decades.—
Twumasi Duah-Mensah,
Charlotte Observer,
28 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Animalize.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/animalize. Accessed 10 Mar. 2026.
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